info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
Image: kohantextilejournal.com
The textile industry is one of Tunisia's most influential industries and has long been an important engine for the country's GDP growth. Tunisia, among the top 15 garment suppliers in the world, has the advantage of being close to the European market.
Sector Overview
The Textiles and clothing industries (TCI) sector is comprised of some 2,094 industrial enterprises employing 10 or more persons, of which 1,656 produce exclusively for the export market.
PARTNERSHIP
The Sector counts 971 enterprises with foreign participation, of which 635 are wholly (100%) foreign-owned.
The leading foreign investors in the textile/clothing sector are Italy, Belgium, Holland, France, Algeria and the USA.
EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCES
• Textile/clothing industries provide the largest number of jobs in the manufacturing sector, employing 205,911 people, 46% of all manufacturing jobs.
• Accessible quality education for all citizens has endowed Tunisia with a young human resource pool (supervisors, technicians, designers, engineers).
• The country has over thirty centres for specialised education covering the textiles industries: 8 sectorial centres for training supervisors and technicians; a higher institute of textiles for senior technicians; a textile engineer university; a higher institute for fashion professionals; a textile design department within the fine arts university.
MAJOR REASONS FOR CHOOSING TUNISIA
• Competitive production costs
• Flexible and adaptable production system
• Qualified and available human resource.
• Respect of delivery time frames.
• Reliable and high-performance sourcing.
• Respect of social and environmental standards.
• Full line of services available from sub-contracting to co-contracting and finished products.
Tunisia enjoys several comparative advantages, such as low labour cost and proximity to the EU market. According to the 2007 textile labour cost comparison by Werner International, the average cost per operator hour in the Tunisian industry is significantly lower than in Morocco and Turkey.
Due to the reactivity of the Tunisian apparel sector delivery times ( 2 to 3 weeks ) are lower than Turkey and Poland ( 3 to 4 weeks ) and definitely lower than India and China (12 à 20 weeks).
Thanks to its proximity to Europe, Tunisian Workers are familiar with the european mentality and work culture. Italy is only 1 hour away from Tunis by aeroplane, France and Germany 2 hours away, Copenhagen and Stockholm are 2h 30 and 3h away respectively. Most of the tunisian factories employ multi-linguistic skilled workers: French, English, Italian and German are widely used.
FUNDAMENTAL RESPECT FOR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS AND NORMS
Tunisia is a signatory to the Geneva Convention on the conditions of the employment of child labour. All companies must comply with social rules and regulations; systematic control procedures ensure that these social standards are respected.
MAIN CLIENTS AND REFERENCES
More than 200 brands are currently working in Tunisia. here is a non-exhaustive list of known brands : Armand Thierry, Benetton, Cacharel, Diesel, Balmain, 4 You, G.Laroche, Hugo Boss, Kookai, Lacoste, Adidas, Catimini, Lee.
