The influence of the economic crisis to the textile industrial production in the Republic of Macedonia

The textile industry is one of the most important traditional industrial branches in The Republic of Macedonia. It is mainly consisted of two major subbranches such as the production of textile materials and the production of textile clothes. The production process of the textile industry, is generally consisted of the following stages: production of basic materials, production of textile materials, assembling or production of textile clothes, and finally performing services. All of these production stages have different production costs and different profit margins. The basic importance of the textile industry for the Macedonian economy can be determined through it’s contribution for the GDP, the overall employment and the export. In the past period from the last decade, this industrial sector has faced many challenges and problems. The most important challenge is the need for restructuring it’s product structure according to the new world market trends in order to preserve it’s internationall competitiveness. Besides that, a new even bigger challenge has emerged from the latest world economic recession, and that is to maintain it’s relative importance for the domestic economy. The actual recession have produced certain negative influences for the textile industry. It’s industrial production, rate of employment and export performances have suffered some serious consequences. But, the most important conclusion from this analysis is that the textile production is highly dependent from the foreign aggregate demand. Therefore, until it doesn’t heal on levels like before, the authorities must create different action plans for the textile sector for better transition during the recession period. Key words: textile production; industry; Republic of Macedonia; economic crisis.