Now everything is fine, but it is temporarily / Article / LSM.lv

After the downtime, the largest companies in the Liepaja sewing industry work at almost full capacity, the products are sent to markets all over the world. But autumn is expected with caution – who knows what surprises the coronavirus will bring. In addition, only a few can count on state aid to exporting companies, as many do not meet the criteria.

There are many sewing companies in Liepaja, the number of which can be measured in tens. The largest are the textile factory “Lauma Fabrics”, the sewing companies “Lauma Lingerie” and VOVA Rus.lsm.lv spoke to the chairmen of these companies. Short summary – so far everything is pretty good. However, there is one “but” – the future is very uncertain.

In April, May and June, almost all employees of Lauma Fabrics, Lauma Lingerie and VOVA were idle for two and a half to three months, but not all at once, but in turn.

Lauma Lingerie laid off 10-15% of its employees, including the closure of a sewing workshop in Talsi. The company now has about 200 employees. There were no serious redundancies at Lauma Fabrics, but people of retirement age were sent on deserved leave. The main plant now has just under 400 employees, and two other units – Lauma medical and Tele textiles – have a total of about 70. VOVA now has 200 employees in the company’s main company and about half a hundred branches in the Russian city of Kaliningrad.

In June and July, companies resumed operating in a more or less normal mode and actually reached pre-crisis levels in terms of output. Orders are, however, so to speak, cautious. “We always had orders for six months, but now for two,” says Vladimir Zozulis, Chairman of the Board of VOVA, adding that a significant part of the production is sewn outside Latvia – in the Kaliningrad branch.

“When Covid-19 and quarantine began, sales fell sharply, especially in the export market, and not only in the Baltics. Many shopping centers were completely closed. In June, the situation started to improve, and in July, it can be said that we felt very comfortable – the sales results were good, ”says Linda Matison, Chairman of the Board of Lauma Lingerie.

As before, all companies send products to both western and eastern markets. “Orders are now normal, we work in three shifts, but it is not clear what will happen in the autumn, we see that some countries set limits and who knows how this will affect the sales of our products,” says Edijs Egliņš, Chairman of the Board of Lauma Fabrics and adds that the company now accepts all orders to “accumulate some buffer for the winter”.

Vladimir Zozulis cautiously admits that nothing will happen with western markets, maybe sales will even increase. In turn, with the Russian market, in his opinion, everything will be different: “I think that the market will shrink twice in a month, and that’s it. The coronavirus has only exacerbated the situation, the Russian economy has “collapsed” after the fall in oil prices, and a wave of bankruptcies is currently taking place. Autumn and winter are ahead, people will first need food and warm clothes. As the New Year approaches, when the gift season begins, lingerie sales will probably increase again. But the decline in sales in our segment will begin in September, with the new school year. Now we have “caught” the last “boom”, when stores have opened, but people had become bored. And the recovery of this market will begin in the spring. If nothing new happens. ”

Linda Matison is in full solidarity with her colleague that she buys her lingerie best in the summer: “We’re very worried about autumn – it’s not our season anymore, and we don’t know what it will be like with coronavirus activity.” She hopes that there will be no new strict restrictions, but the main thing is that if the shopping centers continue to work, then the sales will also improve.

But what about help from the state? Because just starting to accept applications from exporting companies financial support.

“There are certain criteria, we seem to meet them, we will fill in these applications. Any help is important in this situation, ”says Edijs Egliņš.

“Lauma Lingerie”, as Linda Matison regrettably admits, cannot apply for this help: “One of the criteria is a certain level of the average salary, for us it is lower. In the process of developing the criteria, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry also asked us if we were satisfied with them, and we also talked to the Minister of Economy that there are a lot of workers in our sector whose wages are lower than average. Unfortunately, we were not heard, ”says the chairman of the board of Lauma Lingerie. She adds that Lauma Fabrics is almost the only company in the textile industry that meets the “salary” criterion, with a large number of engineers with higher salaries. “But the seamstresses do not meet these criteria, although 90% of our company’s products are exported,” says Linda Matison sadly.

CONTEXT:

Covid-19 is intended to overcome the economic consequences of the crisis in Latvia specific state aid mechanisms Covid-19 affected companies, their employees, Covid-19 patients and all companies. Therefore mobilized by the state approximately EUR 4 billion. Support tools It will remain in Latvia until the end of the year.

Promoting employment in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis for exporting and tourism companies will allocate 70.2 million euros, informed the Ministry of Economics. Of the total amount, EUR 51 million is intended for support for exporting companies and EUR 19.2 million for support for tourism companies.

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