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shift towards electro-mobility the country has the chance to carve out a role in the automotive sector.
“The long-term trend of vehicle electrification offers Albania scope to improve its strategic position in the European peripheral regional automotive value chain. With the electric vehicle subsector’s growth – including increasing electrification of conventional and hybrid vehicles – Albania as a major copper producer could emerge as a hub for copper wire production and sub-assemblies for electric motors and onboard power electronics,” the comment says.
Textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing dominates Albania’s light industrial sector, although it has suffered in recent years.
Albania has a large fashion and textiles industry with numerous factories that import materials which are then turned into partially or fully finished garments or shoes, then re-exported. Italy, just across the Adriatic Sea, is a major market.
Albania’s strength in this area dates back to the communist era, when textile production and garment manufacturing was one of the most important sectors of the economy, with state factories supplying the local population and producing for export. The Kombinat Stalin Textile Mill in the outskirts of Tirana employed over 2,000 people in its heyday.
The sector was badly affected by the recent pandemic. During the initial lockdowns, the clothing and textiles sector suffered sudden demand and supply side shocks. The initial disruptions to supplies from China, followed by factory shutdowns in Europe and elsewhere as the pandemic spread around the world, was accompanied by a slump in demand as people stopped going out – and to a large extent stopped buying new clothes.
More recently, around 75,000 jobs are at risk in Albania, as the high exchange rate of the lek against the euro is making Albania’s fashion industry exports uncompetitive, the Pro-Eksport association has warned.
5.1.4 Major Sectors & Companies
Albania’s tourism sector is a major driver of the economy. It made the fastest post-pandemic recovery of any tourism sector in Europe, the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer showed. Globally Albania was in the third position worldwide in terms of the growth of the tourism sector in the first seven months of 2023 compared to the same period of 2019.
This year saw record numbers of people visiting Albania, as the country is increasingly on the international tourism map. Albania reported 1.9mn
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