Garment Enterprises Export Decreased By 60%

The financial crisis has caused some garment export enterprises in Dalian to be hit hard. Liu Yaqing, member of the Dalian municipal CPPCC Committee, said during the two sessions that the export of her garment enterprises dropped by 60%, which is the most severe challenge in recent years, and that the crisis has not yet come to an end.

Liu Yaqing, another member of the committee, is deputy general manager of Dalian Shun Fa enterprise group. The garment enterprises of Shun Fa group were affected by exchange rate changes, raw material prices, labor costs and financial crisis last year.

In 2008, the clothing business's turnover was 100 million yuan, but in recent months, the volume of European exports has dropped by 60%, and 16 production lines have stopped 8.

In this year's two sessions, Liu Yaqing devoted a proposal to formulate policies to increase subsidies to the heavily affected export enterprises. The proposal also proposed that the functions of the government departments should be changed so that the trade associations of clothing could play a role, because the industry associations knew the situation of the first tier enterprises best, and the measures put forward were more practical and balanced the interests of the whole industry.

Liu Yaqing said that the impact of the current crisis on the export industry is further deepened. In September and October, clothing export enterprises will usher in a more "cold" moment. Now, SMEs must be prepared to deal with difficulties.