Export Reduction To Foreign &Nbsp; Thailand'S Garment Industry Has A Bright Future This Year.

On January 13th, Venlapa, consultant of Thailand clothing association, said that the clothing industry was facing problems such as the appreciation of the Thai baht, the increase of wages and the shortage of labour, which led to 15 large enterprises.

Venlapa said that 15 large garment enterprises will shift to low cost labor markets such as Vietnam, Kampuchea and Bangladesh. In the near future, 5-6 enterprises will pfer production bases.

A total of 1600 enterprises in Thailand are engaged in the clothing industry, of which 15 are large enterprises, accounting for 20% of the market share.

In 2010, the total value of clothing exports in Thailand was about US $3 billion 200 million, an increase of 10% over 2009.

However, the price hikes of 20%, baht and raw material prices will be affected by the operators, especially the price increase of 70% due to global climate change and market speculation, resulting in the operators unable to accept all foreign orders, resulting in a 10% reduction in orders.

At the same time, some customers turned to Vietnam ordering, prompting Vietnam's clothing sales to grow by 25%.

To this end, the association predicts that clothing exports in Thailand will be reduced by 10% over 2009 in 2011.

Export enterprises will set the exchange rate at 29-30 baht to 1 US dollars when accepting orders, but expect the Thai baht exchange rate to rise by 28 baht to 1 US dollars, which is bound to cause a greater blow to operators.

At present, the main export market of clothing in Thailand is 38% of the US, followed by the proportion of EU countries, about 30%, 6% of Japan and 7% of ASEAN countries.

Tsuji, chairman of the Thailand garment industry association, said that in order to improve the dress design technology, the association is preparing to submit the Garment Product Development Center to the Minister of industry for reference, and to apply for a budget of 85 million baht.

The center will assist foreign buyers to bring knowledge and design skills to Thailand and improve the quality of domestic enterprises.

This project also helps operators to understand advanced technology and design new ideas more easily.

Tsuji said that some foreign businessmen have entered Thailand because they can save 80% of their design investment compared with Europe and the United States.

To this end, it is anticipated that more businesses will enter Thailand through the GPDC project, jointly design clothing with Thailand manufacturers, and sign contracts with each other, so as not to let the products of common design outflow, prompting more foreign businessmen to rest assured of Thai development, increase Thailand orders, and promote the development of Thailand garment industry.