The textile company WR Alajuela S.A., owned by VF Corporación, announced last week it is closing down its plant in the northwestern San José district of La Uruca, citing an insufficient demand for the pants it produces. About 400 employees will lose their jobs.
VF Corporación shut down another textile plant in Coronado, northeast of San José, last month, leaving 350 people jobless. These closures have the Foreign Trade Ministry worried, according to a statement released by the ministry Friday.
The effects of these closures should be analyzed carefully since they not only affect the families of those left unemployed, but also hurt prime materials providers, transport companies and state-run providers of services such as water, telephones and electricity, the statement said.
Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz urged legislators to ratify the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), saying their failure to do so is causing “uncertainty” among textile companies and could prompt more of them to pull out of Costa Rica.
