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industry. Of these, 7,000 plants were in the textile sector
and 28,000 in apparel. Some 50% of those in the textile
sector and 80% in the apparel sector were privately owned.
The majority of companies owned only one plant. It had
been possible to carry out an unpublished survey of these
privately owned companies. This had showed that profits
earned by privately owned companies were less than profits
earned by public companies. The June, July and August
figures indicated a downward trend. July figures for
apparel were down on June and May; July figures for yarns
and fabrics were down on May; in m.m.f. fabrics, July
showed the lowest figures since February; cotton textile
products were the lowest since fiscal year 1959; wool
textile products in July were the lowest since September
1967; textile shipments in July were 5% down on the
preceding year and textile inventories at the end of
July were 3% up on the preceding year; the ratio of
inventories to shipments was at a record high. From this
information and that given before lunch on employment,
there was a clear reading of a downturn.
59.
Mr. Nehmer further illustrated this point by
reference to three company reports on the impact of
imports. Company I, making woven work clothes of cotton
and cotton/polyester blends reported it was suffering
competition from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
/prices
The Far East
CONFIDENTIAL