CARIBBEAN: Garments lose ground to Mexico

• by IPS Correspondents (kingston)
• Thursday, November 24, 1994
• Inter Press Service

KINGSTON, Nov 24 (IPS) - Caribbean countries have started feeling negative effects from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which was implemented at the start of the year.

The region's garment exporters say they are losing ground to Mexico, and fear that they will be driven out of their lucrative apparel market in the United States and Canada.

The rate of growth in Caribbean Basin apparel exports to the United States in the first half of this year has slowed, according to a report from the Caribbean Textile and Apparel Institute, a lobby for the region's garment makers.

At the same time, there has been a significant increase in the rate of exports of Mexican garments to the United States.

Regional producers say that this is a direct result of Mexico's participation in NAFTA, and are renewing their appeals to the United States administration for early reconsideration of "parity" for the region's exports.

A loss of even a part of its market would have far reaching effects in the region. Caribbean Basin economies recorded gross earnings of 3.9 billion dollars from the industry last year, with most of this going to the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Jamaica.

Some 450,000 workers are employed in the industry in the Caribbean Basin, most of them being women -- a group which has the highest unemployment rate in the region.

Caribbean Basin countries' share of the U.S. apparel market grew to 13.74 percent last year, compared to 14.9 percent held by the ASEAN group, 4.15 percent by the European Union, 2.24 percent by Latin America and 1.68 percent by Africa.

According to the Textile and Apparel Institute, Caribbean Basin exports to the United States between January and June of last year grew by 28 percent, but slowed to 9.9 percent this year.

Mexican exports, which grew by 19.4 percent in the first half of last year, jumped to 39.2 percent this year, the institute said.

"This shift in the growth of exports to the U.S. is a result of more attractive terms of access which Mexico has under NAFTA," said Peter King, chairman of the institute.

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