Textile and clothing industry is the first manufacture sector in Tunisia in terms of employment (176 464 jobs) and the number of enterprises (1822 enterprises). This industry is characterized in particular by the quality and the reactivity owing to Tunisia proximity to Europe.
Sectors
TE*
OTE*
Total
%
Agrofood industries
199
854
1 053
18,5%
Building matrials, ceramics and glass industries
25
429
454
8,0%
Mechanicals and basic metlas industries
189
440
629
11,1%
Electrical and Electronic industries
240
131
371
6,5%
Chimical industries
136
416
552
9,7%
Textile and Clothing industries
1 524
298
1 822
32,1%
Wood, Cork and Furniture industries
28
179
207
3,6%
Leather and Shoes industries
210
71
281
4,9%
Other industries
75
240
315
5,5%
Total
2 626
3 058
5 684
100%
Source : API – November 2013
TE: Totally Exported
OTE: Other than Totally Exported.
Over the total number of textile enterprises, 1524 are totally exported companies. Tunisian textile sector has adopted new orientation since 2000: promotion of vertical integration, shift-to-up market, ready-to-wear clothing, and production of small and medium-size series.
Textile and clothing sector is the second exporter sector : 40% of exports
More than 50% of enterprises have foreign partners participation
5th supplier of EU and 10th exporter in the world
In Europe : 1 garment over 3 is made in Tunisia
In France : 1 jeans over 3 is manufactured in Tunisia
The support plan engaged by Tunisia to develop dyeing and finishing activities aims at improving the sourcing of textile fabrics dyed locally in order to react rapidly to the needs of fast-fashion market.
Tunisia imports per year more than 400 millions meters of finished fabrics (1300 million €). The totally exported companies (1524) represent a wide range of clients for dyeing and finishing companies. 35 enterprises are operating in dyeing and finishing sector and are employing 5400 persons. The types of activities are:
Finishing warp and woof: 15 enterprises including 10 operating in the local market (total employment 1419).
Stitch dyeing : 13 enterprises including 6 totally exported companies (total employment 2288). The production capacity is around 11 000 Tons/year.
Yarn dyeing : 7 enterprises including 6 operating in the local market (total employment 1724). The production capacity is around 2500 tons/year.
Investment incitation’s :
Investment subsidy (dyeing and finishing activities benefit from the advantages of the Incitation Investment Code (articles 52 and 52 bis)
Advantages provided by the decontamination Fund for environment upgrading actions
Advantages provided by the National Fund of Energy Saving
50% of reduction on the effluent treatment royalties when output effluents after treatment comply with the standard NT 1006-002
the possibility for the totally exported companies to sell on the local market 30% of production
A collective purification station and a dedicated industrial zone are under development within neotex Mnoastir Technopark. This zone will gather all the dyeing and finishing activities to benefit from pre-treatment and treatment services provided by the collective purification station (capacity of 12000 m3 per day).
Technical Textiles
Technical textiles world market
Technical textiles have various meanings: they identify textiles whose manufacturing uses materials and innovative manufacturing process having a huge field of applications. Technical textiles are integrated into other materials as well as used as semi-finished products within other branches of industry. Technical textiles products are used in several application fields such as building, transport, industry, medical, civil engineering, clothing, packaging, environment, sports and leisure, etc…Hereby, 12 fields (Techtextil standard) are presented :
The world market of technical textiles is evolving: from 85 billion € in 2005 to 100 billion € in 2010. It is expected that it would reach 127 billion € in 2012/ 2013.
The volume grew in developing countries by 4% to 5% per year until 2010 and it is foreseen that in 2012 about 24 million tons of technical textiles will be used in the world. Because of its significant growth rate, technical textiles have already reached over 4% of the world production (Data source: David Rigby Associates, 2010).
Technical Textile in Tunisia
Technical textiles are evaluated as an emerging sector of Tunisian textile industry. According to a survey conducted by mfcpole with the support of UNIDO (United Nations for Industrial Development Organization) and published as a directory of Tunisian technical textile companies, 250 companies are operating in this field.
Nearly 2/3 of them are delivering products to clothing, furniture, and personal protection and sportswear markets.
191 out of 250 surveyed companies are listed as textile and clothing companies (76%) and 59 are in other industrial sectors as plastic, rubber, pharmacy and mechanic…
63% of companies are totally exporting, 25% are partially exporting and 12% are active only within the domestic market.
The technical textiles companies identified in the directory employs around 28.000 people, which represent approximately 15% of total textile and clothing sector and 5,5% of total employment in the industry.
