Is Southeast Asia The Promised Land Of Clothing Industry?

Here world Clothing and shoes Xiaobian of the network to introduce to you is the clothing industry transfer Southeast Asian region invisible cost and policy risk is higher.

The Southeast Asian region with low labor cost has become the next destination for the garment industry after the mainland of China, but is it really as good as expected?

In Southeast Asian countries, factory accidents and strikes and protests are frequent, with high policy risks and gradually losing investment trust. Beginning in 2008, consumers gradually found that the words "madeinVietnam" and "madeinBangladesh" were more and more on H&M, ZARA, NIKE and WAL-MART. Behind the small label is that the whole Southeast Asia has diverted 30% processing orders from the mainland of China. Bangladesh is growing into the second largest garment producing area after Mainland China, and the low labor cost is one of the important factors to enhance their competitiveness.

According to the Japan Trade Promotion Council report, the average monthly salary of factory workers in Guangzhou in 2012 was $352, compared with the average monthly salary of workers in Vietnam's Hanoi, Kampuchea Phnom Penh and Dhaka, Bangladesh, which were only $111, $82 and $78 respectively. The garment manufacturing industry, which needs a lot of cheap labor, is seeing the dawn again here. Investing in Southeast Asia has become a hot topic for foreign businessmen.

Over the past 5 years, Vietnam has been Foreign businessman Investment has increased by more than two times, and foreign investment in Kampuchea and Bangladesh has increased by 85% and 43% respectively, reaching 892 million US dollars and 1 billion 100 million US dollars respectively. With the entry of foreign capital and the transfer of garment processing industry, the economic dependence of Southeast Asian countries on garment export has made some progress, but the problem also arises.

In November 2012, 121 people were killed in the fire at the clothing factory in the tower of Dhaka in Bangladesh. In April of next year, a 8 storey building collapsed in the suburbs of the capital, causing many people to be buried. The death toll was over 1000. Bad working environment, rampant gangsters, corrupt government officials, rising prices... Every social problem is the last straw to crush the poor. The poor clothing industry workers can not maintain their daily lives, and discontent is accumulating. In September 2013, in order to strive for a minimum wage of $104 a month, Bangladesh's clothing workers took to the streets to protest. Three days of protest took place, and 400 factories shut down. By the end of the year, angry workers set fire to a ten storey large garment processing plant. In early August of this year, 1600 workers were fasting for wages, demanding payment of 3 months' wages and a 4130 yuan reward for the festival.

The situation in Kampuchea is not optimistic. In 2013, the Kampuchea fabric production association (GMAC) recorded a total of 130 strikes, the most frequent year in the past ten years. At the end of that year, 300 thousand Kampuchea clothing workers staged a strike March. GMAC called on members to shut down factories and stop production for three days. It resulted in a loss of about $200 million and an investment delay of $70 million.

In Vietnam, foreign businessmen are facing more problems. The instability of the social environment and polity; the exchange rate crisis erupted at the beginning of the year; the lack of professional skills training for local workers and low productivity; the production of raw materials only met the 30% production demand of the textile industry; most of the middle and high grade fabrics were heavily dependent on imports; in May this year, violent incidents against foreign investors also occurred, which had cast a shadow over Vietnam's business environment.

　　 clothing Manufacturers gradually found that although the cost of labor is low, the hidden costs and policy risks of Southeast Asian countries are even higher. The lack of infrastructure facilities and the uncertainty of policy changes is undoubtedly a test for enterprises. This has also shaken many foreign investors' confidence in Southeast Asia, but there is nothing else to do.