President of the Tunisian Federation of Textile and Clothing, Haythem Bouajila, said the textile sector has managed to withstand difficulties and maintain its performance over the past three years despite a challenging economic environment and global geopolitical fluctuations, highlighting the sector’s resilience and sustainability.
Speaking on Express FM on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, he explained that the textile and clothing sector is mainly export-oriented, with between 85% and 88% of companies operating as fully exporting firms.
The sector relies on high value added and follows a strategy focused on growth, market diversification and the adoption of modern technologies.
Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin convention
Bouajila warned of what he described as “secondary” factors that nonetheless threaten the survival of companies and thousands of jobs, slow export growth, and do not affect competing firms in other countries.
These include administrative authorizations, safety certificates, obstacles to setting up new businesses and the lack of digitalisation. He stressed that the industrial sector remains constrained by an outdated legislative and regulatory framework.
He also pointed to the high cost of financing in Tunisia compared with neighboring countries such as Morocco and Egypt, expressing surprise at the continued non-ratification of the Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin convention, which provides customs exemptions and major advantages for Tunisian industries.
He warned that failure to ratify the convention would subject Tunisian exports, including textiles, to 12% customs duties from January 2026 due to the absence of certificates of origin, reducing profit margins to below 10%.
Bouajila said the issue is currently before the Ministry of Trade and requires approval by the government and the Assembly of People’s Representatives, cautioning that the additional burden would undermine the sector’s competitiveness and trust with foreign partners.
He also voiced concerns about potential losses resulting from delays in ratification, noting that the Federation has contacted the supervisory authority without receiving a response so far.
Major challenges facing the sector
Bouajila said the sector faces major challenges, including high production costs, high energy prices compared with neighboring countries, and the need to invest in water recycling, rational water use, the transition to clean energy and the adoption of a circular economy.
He noted that despite administrative hurdles and complex regulations, more than 175 industrial companies in the sector are now connected to solar energy, while dozens have invested heavily in water recycling plants that meet the highest international technical standards.
Other challenges include global competition, instability, Tunisia’s high tax burden, the new Labor Code, value chains and US customs duties.
Domestically, he highlighted issues related to continuous training to adapt to new technologies, the lack of public transport to major industrial zones, difficulties in obtaining civil protection and security classification certificates, and what he described as one of the world’s most restrictive legal frameworks for industrial companies. He also denounced the pressure of inspections on formal businesses alongside the expansion of the informal sector, creating an uneven playing field.
Call for stronger action against informal sector
Bouajila said Tunisia’s business climate remains difficult, calling for greater firmness and fairness in tackling the informal sector, while reaffirming the national industry’s readiness to shoulder its responsibilities in terms of employment and export value creation.
He revealed that thanks to its partner networks and integrated value chains, the textile sector recorded exports worth €3 billion (around TND 10 billion) over 2023, 2024 and 2025, in addition to domestic transactions estimated at TND 4.5 billion.
He added that textile activity is no longer limited to fashion and clothing, but now includes technical garments, medical and paramedical textiles, uniforms, technical textiles for the automotive, aeronautics and construction industries, as well as home textiles.
Finally, he stressed the importance of Tunisia’s denim industry, which provides around 45,000 jobs and is among the sector’s strongest segments in terms of quality and competitiveness.
