According to Valeria Remkyavichene, director of Lithuanian Association of enterprises, manufacturing clothes and textile, positive trade balance in external trade has greatly reduced due to the bankruptcy of many Lithuanian footwear factories.
Over the 10 months of this year footwear export as compared with the same period of 2001 reduced by 21%, and import grew by 12%.The main share of export (84,5%)of this industry falls to European Union, about 5% of the manufactured goods were exported to CIS countries.

Source: Baltic News Service. Vilnius.
25.11.2002