Myanmar clothing industry welcomes the spring of export

Since 2000, Western countries have begun to impose sanctions on garments produced in Myanmar. In the recent ten years, the apparel industry in Burma has been hit hard. The sources of orders have narrowed and sales have shrunk gradually. Most of the orders come from Japan and South Korea.

However, after the implementation of political reforms in Myanmar, Western countries gradually relaxed their sanctions on Burma. Costumes "Made in Myanmar" can now be sold in American shops. This has great implications for the recovery of the Myanmar apparel industry.

The report on September 15 learned that in the ten years that have been imposed by Western sanctions, Burma’s garment export industry in Western countries has been hit hard. Burmese apparel exporters have to find only markets in Eastern countries to survive.

However, the situation has changed recently. As the West has eased the sanctions, Myanmar clothing has more opportunities to enter the European and American markets. Now the clothing industry in Myanmar has begun to recover. This is unprecedented in the last decade.

It is reported that in 2003, the United States imposed a ban on clothing imports in Myanmar. Soon afterwards, Japan became the largest export market for Burmese garments. In 2001, when Myanmar’s clothing exports had reached 800 million U.S. dollars, the sanctions were caught in the export crisis and the total number of clothing exports plummeted. It was only until this year that it really returned to life.

Although the garment industry in Myanmar welcomes good development opportunities, the competition in this industry is also becoming more and more intense. The total clothing exports in Myanmar this year are expected to reach 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, which is much larger than the total export volume in 2001 during the peak period. US apparel chain gap inc announced in June this year that it will import garments from Burmese factories, which means that garments bearing the “Made in Myanmar” label will be on display in the United States. Burmese exporters have expressed the hope that more Western companies will come to order as the American company.

Four years ago, there were about 80,000 workers in the clothing industry in Myanmar, which has now risen to 250,000. In addition, Myanmar also welcomes foreign-funded enterprises to invest in the construction of garment factories in Myanmar to promote their domestic employment and allow their domestic clothing industry to develop more diversified.