“We have lost 150,000 jobs and our exports declined 25 percent to 30 percent last year to $300 million,” Raul Ortiz, who heads the National Industries Association (SNI)’s textiles unit, said. “Our fine wool and fabric sales to the U.S. and Europe have collapsed.”
Peru, known for its alpaca and vicuna fabrics to make high-end cashmere and wool sweaters, as well as pima cotton for fine polos, also recently lost orders with large customers from pandemic-stricken Italy, which buys the South American nation’s fabrics to make luxury apparel, putting many manufacturers on tenterhooks and forcing them to fire thousands of workers.