Garment Retailers Pfer Factories To Bangladesh And Burma

2014, it was a turbulent year for the textile industry in Asia - the surge in wages of Chinese workers, the riots in Kampuchea and the collapse of factories in Bangladesh. These negative news made the Asian textile industry a bit of a headline and a reflection of the Far East.

Is entering the pition period.

According to recent reports, China is no longer a cheap clothing country because it is the main coastal area.

In the center, the wages of the workers are about 500 dollars a month, and the inland area is 250 dollars. So in recent years, foreign clothing retailers have moved their factories to Bangladesh and Burma.

The clothing industry in Bangladesh has grown to $25 billion and employs 4 million 400 thousand workers.

Burma is US $5 billion 500 million, providing 650 thousand of employment opportunities.

But in these cheap clothes - making countries, workers are starting to fight to get higher wages.

After a labour dispute, the monthly salary of workers increased to $68, an increase of 77%.

In November 2014, the Ministry of labour of Bangladesh raised the minimum monthly salary of clothing workers to $128, an increase of $75, and the monthly salary was almost two times that of Burma.

For the giants of the global apparel industry from these countries (e.g. H&M, Inditex and WAL-MART), the slight increase in the wages of these countries is minimal for the entire business model, because they include marketing, pportation, sales, customs duties and taxes, which account for only 2% to 3% of the total production cost.

The rise in wages has further reduced the profits of local garment companies.

However, these garment retailers have found areas to replace Asia as production centers.

H&M, Tesco and Primark have already begun to purchase from Ethiopia, because there is no minimum monthly salary limit, and for unskilled workers, the monthly salary is only 35 to 40 dollars, much lower than that in Burma.

These foreign clothing merchants are very popular in African countries, and they also benefit a lot from the abundant local labor force and energy.

The clothing industry in Kenya is also developing. Although the country's monthly salary is about 120 dollars, the government has attracted the foreign businessmen with abundant rewards.

Observers say that East African countries are expected to replace East Asia as clothing production centers.

In contrast to East Asia, East African countries have lower clothing costs to Europe or the United States, in addition to cheap labour.

In addition, African countries signed a special trade agreement with the United States in 2000, and American clothing entered the African market for tax exemption.

With the development of local cotton industry in Africa, local resources can be purchased to further reduce costs.

For East Asian countries, they should be pformed into more value-added industries.