Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ASTANA150
2006-09-29 04:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN'S TEXTILES AND APPAREL SECTOR: UPDATED STATISTICS

Tags:  ECON ETRD KTEX KZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4177
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHAST #0150 2720455
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290455Z SEP 06
FM USOFFICE ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0270
INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ALMATY 0237
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ASTANA 0291
UNCLAS ASTANA 000150 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SCA/CEN - O'MARA
STATE/EB/TPP/ABT - LERSTEN
COMMERCE/ITA/OTEXA - D'ANDREA
USTR - HEYLIGER
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KTEX KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN'S TEXTILES AND APPAREL SECTOR: UPDATED STATISTICS
AND PROJECTION OF FUTURE COMPETITIVENESS

UNCLAS ASTANA 000150

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SCA/CEN - O'MARA
STATE/EB/TPP/ABT - LERSTEN
COMMERCE/ITA/OTEXA - D'ANDREA
USTR - HEYLIGER
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KTEX KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN'S TEXTILES AND APPAREL SECTOR: UPDATED STATISTICS
AND PROJECTION OF FUTURE COMPETITIVENESS


1. (U) The following data for Kazakhstan in 2005, provided by
Lubov Khudova, representative of the Kazakhstani Association of
Light Industry Enterprises, and sources from the National
Statistics Agency, responds to the questions in reftel.

-- Industrial production: $38.6 billion

-- Total textile and apparel production: $242 million

-- Exports in textiles and apparel to the U.S.: N/A
(negligible)

-- Total manufacturing employment: 540,500 people (892,000
including mining, metallurgy, and extractive industries)

-- Total employment in textiles and apparel: 22,800 (including
1,300 in shoe manufacturing).


2. (SBU) According Khudova, a representative of the Kazakhstani
Association of Light Industry Enterprises, the country's textile
and apparel industry "has not felt" the impact of the end of
global textile quotas. Khudova described the internal textile
and apparel market as "wild and unregulated." The reason, she
said, is that the vast majority of the textile and apparel
products on the Kazakhstani market are imports, of which roughly
95% are undeclared. While Kazakhstan does impose import duties
on textile products, Khudova explained, customs enforcement is
woefully inadequate. This is partially due to gaping loopholes
in customs regulations, which allow enterprises classified as
small and medium to import large quantities of goods
uninspected. It is also partially the result of ineffectiveness
and corruption at the customs checkpoints. The government has
to date failed to adequately address this problem, said Khudova.


3. (SBU) Kazakhstan's "light industry" (which includes textile
and shoe manufacturing) has, according to Khudova, contracted
dramatically from 15.8% of GDP in the early 1990's to 0.6% of
GDP now. Post-Soviet economic decline and readjustment,
combined with a flood of cheap imports, particularly from China
and Turkey, has led to a collapse of the domestic textile
industry. The failure of customs controls, she added, has
resulted in domination of the Kazakhstani textile and apparel
market by low-grade counterfeit goods. While Kazakhstan still
has a substantial government-subsidized cotton-growing sector,
96% of the Kazakhstani cotton is exported. On the other hand,
the vast majority of finished goods are imported; only about 8%
of textile and apparel products and 1% of shoes purchased on the
Kazakhstani market are domestically manufactured.


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ORDWAY

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