Panama textile textile industry has an estimated value of $8.6 billion.
Panamanian textile companies employ nearly 5 million people and export about $6 billion worth of clothing a year.
It makes its money from both domestic and imported fabrics, including garments from Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the United States.
Panama’s textile industry is estimated to have been worth about $1 billion annually at the end of 2015, according to the International Chamber of Commerce.
The Panama Industrial Commission is tasked with overseeing the industry and has approved a number of major projects.
The Panama Canal Company, which controls the canal and other waterways, owns Panama Canal and has given up some of its shareholding to the Panamanians.
Panama’s textile workers are paid at about $3 a day.
It takes about 1,200 people to make a kilo of fabric, according a report by the Panamian International Labor Council in 2017.
A kilo is roughly 1,600 square feet.
The industry employs about 1.4 million workers, according the ILC.