|
Garment exports to Japan on track
The export value of Lao garment products to Japan will remain stable despite foreign markets suffering in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami, Lao Garment Industry Association President Mr One Sy Boutsivongsakd said on Mar 16.
He said that as president of the association he met with Japanese garment investors in Laos and asked them whether they were adversely affected by the recent disaster.
“I met with Japanese garment makers earlier this week and they told me they were unaffected by the events in Japan,” Mr. One Sy told Vientiane Times amid concerns the disaster would affect Lao exporters.
There are four to five major Japanese garment factories in Laos, which make clothes and other items for the Japanese market. The value of Lao garment exports to Japan is about US$8 million a year. Japan is the sixth largest buyer of Lao-made garments after the European Union and the USA.
Mr. One Sy said the Lao Garment Association had set an export target of about US$200 million in 2011 after the economic recovery drove up global demand for garment products. But he expected this figure to be exceeded.
The export value of Lao garments was just under US$200 million in 2010.
Lao garment manufacturers saw the value of exports fall from US$189 million in 2007 to US$159 million in 2008 after demand slumped in world markets due to the global financial crisis and ensuing recession.
Europe was the major buyer of Lao garments with 81 percent of the market, amounting to US$147.6 million. A further 11 percent worth US$20 million went to the US market, 4 percent to Canada, and 3 percent to Japan, according to the Garment Association.
Mr. One Sy predicted the general trend for the Lao garment industry would be positive in the next few years, due to the worldwide economic recovery and rising labour costs in China that would make the price of Lao-made garments more competitive.
He said a number of foreign traders had submitted large orders to Lao garment factories, but they did not have the work force to fill the orders.
Large numbers of people had found work in other countries, he said, which had led to a shortage of manpower in Laos.
The sectors concerned needed to cooperate to prevent such labour outflows, he said.
vientiane times
|
