THE textile clothing and footwear industry is worth $100 million and provides employment to 7000 people with 90 per cent of them women.
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism permanent secretary Shaheen Ali made the statement when he handed over a grant of $100,000 to the president of the TCF Council Fiji yesterday.
THE Textile, Clothing and Footwear Council of Fiji this year aims to see more growth and employment in the garment industry.
This includes pursuing new opportunities and markets in attracting investment for the industry.
TCF Council president Kaushik Kumar said 2016 was a difficult year with the declining of the Australian dollar which had an adverse effect on the garment industry.
THE Textile, Clothing and Footwear Council of Fiji says it will focus on the Australian market because they find it difficult to compete with countries that have duty-free access in the US.
TCF president Kaushik Kumar said they had been to the US as well bit found it difficult to compete while the European Union was logistically too far for Fiji.