Apparel industry steady

The apparel industry shows signs of a recovery, said the acting Secretary General of the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Rohan Masakorala.

According to the first quarter export statistics there is no big decline and during the last two months there is an increase in exports.

New orders are being received and there is an increase in demand. We expect that markets will recover in the second quarter, Masakorala said.

Group Director of the MAS Holdings, one of the leading apparel exporters in the, Dian Gomas confirmed the position of the industry and said that the first quarter is good and industry and the individual companies are very aggressive and they are very positive of the second quarter.

Masakorala said that there are several factors that has contributed for this optimism. One is the government?s reward scheme for export industries.

Now our manufacturers can go for competitive price. We also expect that the markets will recover.