GUATEMALAN TEXTILE AND APPAREL DATA

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002505

SIPDIS

STATE/EB/TPP/ABT EDWARD HEARTNEY
COMMERCE/ITA/OTEXA/MARIA D'ANDREA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KTEX
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN TEXTILE AND APPAREL DATA

REF: SECSTATE 184238

Embassy contacted various GoG agencies to collect the textile
and apparel data solicited by reftel. Methodologies vary and
data quality is mixed, so we have had to rely on a few leaps
of faith to come up with some of our estimates. The total
value of industrial production on a national accounts basis
was $2,990 million in 2002 and $3,140 USD in 2003, according
to our estimates using Central Bank (Banguat) data. Note
that Guatemala's national accounts are based on the 1958
industrial census and are therefore a bit suspect. The
Apparel and Textiles Commission (Vestex),a component of the
Chamber of Nontraditional Exports (Agexpront),estimates the
total value of textile and apparel production at 1,414.8
million USD in 2002 and 1,486.5 million in 2003. Value added
in textile and apparel exports (presumably comparable to the
national accounts data for industrial production) was $345.8
million in 2002 and $418.5 million in 2003, according to
Banguat (reporting net exports in the services account on a
balance of payments basis). The corresponding percentages of
value added in industrial production represented by textile
and apparel exports would be 11.6% and 13.3% for 2002 and
2003, though we caution against using three-digit precision.
There were 195,954 workers in the manufacturing sector
registered with the Guatemalan Social Security Institute in
2002 and 196,337 in 2003. Agexpront's surveys indicate that
the number of workers in the apparel industry in was around
106,100 in 2002 and 108,100 in 2003. As of the time of this
writing, Agexpront does not track the number of workers in
the textile and apparel sector, though it is planning to
start. The POC for textile and apparel issues is Econoff
Mark Andrew Stephens.
HAMILTON