Austrian textiles industry stitches its wounds

The Austrian textiles industry is hoping for better times ahead after registering a dramatic decline in turnover last year.Official figures presented today (Fri) show the industry was confronted with a 20 per cent year on year drop in turnover in 2009 to 2.05 billion Euros. Statistics also show that the number of staff employed in the branch slumped by 9.2 per cent from 2008 to 2009.Representatives of the industry said they were optimistic they had escaped the worst of the recession.”Our export rate improved by one per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the first three months of 2009,” a spokesman said.He stressed that exports dropped by 21.9 per cent in 2009 year on year.