The textile company WR Alajuela S.A., owned by VF Corporación, announced last week that 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, in December 2006, 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 plants closing should be analyzed carefully since they hurt prime materials providers, transport companies and state-run providers of services like water, telephones and electricity, the statement said.

“This is an alert signal for the country because of the impact the loss of formal jobs has on families,” said Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz, according to the statement.

The Minister also 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 lead more of them to pull out of Costa Rica, the only signatory country that has not ratified the agreement, the statement said.

-Tico Times