CAIRO - The January 25 revolution, which ousted president Hosni Mubarak, has pushed down sales even during the winter low-priced offers, traders of ready-to-wear clothes complain, saying that they have sustained losses worth LE5 billion over the past months. Yehia Zananniri, the Chairman of the Garment Producers' Association that provides Egypt's haberdashery shops, said traders had suffered losses despite reducing prices for high-quality clothes by 50 per cent during the winter sales. "Sales were being driven down since January 25 as the revolution had stopped people from buying despite the discounts, which reach half the price of each item," Zanannire said. He added that the winter sales, which usually run for two months, were not so attractive for consumers because their attention had been distracted by the 18-day revolt. Although the reduced prices of clothes reached historic lows during the sales, the customers refrained from buying them, Zananniri said, adding that demand dropped further, he said. That drop, he continued, has led to further reduction in prices that reached at least 75 per cent for certain ready-to-wear items. "Political turmoil and uncertainty that gripped the country drove sales to almost a complete halt during the first three weeks of the winter sales, which usually start during the third week of February," Mahmoud Daaour, head of the garment industry unit at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said. Daaour said that the garment sales in the Greater Cairo Area had sustained an estimated loss of LE5 billion since the start of the start of the Revolution. "Continuing political uncertainty has pushed prices even down," he said, adding that the whole season of buying winter clothes was badly damaged because with the beginning of the spring season on March 21 customers would refrain from buying heavy clothes. He warns that if the situation goes on like this the garment industry, which earns up to LE15 billion a year, could stop in a short space of time. "The unrest in Egypt is affecting the whole industry," he said, adding that unprecedented discounts after the January 25 revolt have failed to boost sales in early March too. "Sales dropped by nearly 50 per cent in the first eight days of March compared with the year-ago period despite hot offer deals that have been made by shop owners," he added.
