Clothing sector sees sharp decline in pre-Eid sales

AMMAN — President of the Textile and Readymade Clothes Syndicate Mounir Deyeh said that the sector’s activities have been “less than average” lately despite Eid Al Fitr approaching, while stressing that goods are readily available and prices are stable.

"This sector is witnessing a significant decline and stagnation during this period compared to previous festive seasons," Deyeh said, explaining that traders usually wait for the holidays to revitalise their sales, but that this year things are different.

Deyeh pointed out that although the sector has been facing decline for years, the coronavirus crisis this year has made things “unprecedentedly worse”.

The syndicate’s president said that “the limited time given to citizens to roam the streets, the prohibition of shopping during evening hours, a weak purchasing power and fear of going out to malls, shops and markets” has made things more difficult for the sector whose sales went down by 60 per cent last year”.

The clothing and shoes sector currently employs 53,000 workers, the majority of which are Jordanian. It also includes 11, 800 merchants spread throughout the Kingdom

“Every year, stakeholders in the sector rely heavily on the last days of the holy month, especially as employees receive their salaries and head to the markets to stimulate it by preparing for Eid,” he added.

Deyeh stressed that there are no increases in the prices of clothes and shoes in the local market and that they are available at their normal and stable levels, noting that traders “urgently need liquidity to pay their obligations, the salaries of their employees and the prices of their seasonal goods, especially after the closing period that their trade has witnessed”.

Competition between merchants, the increasing number of shops and the diversity of options for consumers “must not tempt shop owners to raise prices”, he noted, explaining that the move would only harm the owner in making shoppers turn away from his store.