Cablegate: Turkmenistan: Domestic Textiles Not

VZCZCXRO2790
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHAH #0239 0560722
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250722Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4286
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 6289
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 3961
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3820
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 4533
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1502
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 4430
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000239

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB
COMMERCE FOR DSTARKS/EHOUSE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR EIND ETRD SOCI PGOV PREL TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: DOMESTIC TEXTILES NOT
COMPETITIVE WITH IMPORTS

1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for Public
Internet.

2. (SBU) In mid-February, Embassy economic assistant
surveyed Ashgabat stores that specialize in textile
products to find out what types of products they
offered, where the textiles were produced, and the
price range. The government-owned store "Altyn Asyr"
(Golden Century) offered a limited range of 100
percent cotton products, including jeans, pajamas,
sportswear, towels, terrycloth bathrobes, and sheets.
All of the items for sale were produced domestically.
Towels and sheets were the best selling items, both
among local customers and visitors from Russia and
Kazakhstan, because of their good quality and low
prices. A medium-sized towel was available for $3 and
a set of sheets sold for $25. Prices for tee shirts
and sportswear ranged from $3-10 for children's sizes
and from $10-30 for adult. The material used for the
tee shirts and sportswear was not as soft as some
imported products, nor were the colors as bright. The
government-owned store offered a limited variety of
poor quality jeans at prices from $10-15.

3. (SBU) Privately-owned stores offered a wider
variety of children's and adult clothing made in
Turkey, Thailand, China, and Uzbekistan. The products
made in Turkey and Thailand were better quality than
the Turkmen equivalents, but were more expensive,
ranging in price from $10-70. Prices for Chinese
textiles were the same as for locally-made products,
but the quality was better and the variety greater.
Individuals, not companies, probably brought in the
products from Uzbekistan, because the range was
limited to tee shirts and sportswear, but the quality
was better than similar Turkmen products.

4. (SBU) COMMENT: Turkmenistan could make its textile
products more competitive in both local and foreign
markets by improving the quality. One way to do that
would be to grow and use more long-staple cotton,
which is finer than the short-staple cotton that
Turkmenistan currently grows, but also has lower
yields. In addition, the Turkmen textile companies
could blend synthetic fibers with cotton in order to
improve the durability and quality of the clothing,
and to make it more competitive with the products
being imported from Turkey and Thailand. END COMMENT.

CURRAN

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