The First Online Working Meeting Of Textile And Garment Industry In Lancang Mekong Region

On the morning of July 31, China Textile Federation and the Lancang Mekong textile and garment Merchants Association from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand jointly launched the first work exchange meeting in 2020. This is also the first formal working meeting held by the association of textile and garment merchants in the Lancang Mekong region since the establishment of the working mechanism of the "dialogue on the textile and garment industry in the Lancang Mekong region" in October last year. Xu Yingxin, vice president of China Textile Federation, chairman of textile industry branch of China Council for the promotion of international trade, executive director of China textile international production capacity cooperation enterprise alliance, Yuan Hongping, Deputy Secretary General of China Textile Federation and director of Foreign Affairs Office, attended the meeting, and Lin Yunfeng, vice president of textile industry branch and Secretary General of China Council for the promotion of international trade, presided over the meeting.

At the meeting, representatives from various countries had a full exchange on the operation of the textile and clothing industry in various countries in the first half of 2020, the difficulties encountered by various industries under the impact of the epidemic situation and the countermeasures, and made a deep discussion on how to make better use of the working mechanism platform of "Lan Mei textile and garment industry dialogue" to strengthen inter industry cooperation and promote the coordinated development of regional industrial chain in the "post epidemic era" In the discussion.

Cambodia

Kaing, Deputy Secretary General of Cambodian Garment Association, first introduced the relevant situation of Cambodia. Under the double pressure of the new crown epidemic and the cancellation of EBA, Cambodia's textile and garment industry is facing great difficulties. Since the beginning of the year, about 250 enterprises have been shut down or closed down, and 150000 employees have been unemployed, mainly female workers. According to GMAC survey, it is estimated that only 30% of the orders of member enterprises in the third quarter of this year will be the same as that of last year, and the rest will decline to varying degrees. Less than 20% of the members are expected to have flat orders in the fourth quarter. Due to the cancellation of EBA tariff preferential measures, the export prices of Cambodian clothing products to the EU market have increased relatively, and the orders from the EU have decreased significantly. In order to save the cost, many clothing production enterprises stop production. The Cambodian government has certain support for relevant enterprises. Enterprises pay workers a minimum wage of $30 a month and government subsidies of $40 to help enterprises resist the impact of the epidemic.

Myanmar

Eddie, the central executive committee of Myanmar Garment Association, and Rosaline, Secretary General of Myanmar Garment Association, respectively introduced the situation of Myanmar. Myanmar garment industry has experienced the shortage of raw materials caused by the epidemic situation in China from January to February, and the shutdown stage after the outbreak in Myanmar in March. After the new year's holiday in April, Myanmar began to return to work and give birth again, but the absenteeism rate of many workers due to the epidemic situation and other factors increased significantly. Judging from the export data, Myanmar's overall clothing export declined slightly in the first six months, mainly due to the relatively normal production in other time except for the production stoppage in March to April. In particular, from May to June, neighboring countries transferred some orders to Myanmar due to the epidemic situation, so Myanmar's clothing exports increased in the past two months. The epidemic has a great impact on Myanmar's economy, and the sharp reduction of orders in Europe and the United States has caused a great blow to the future development of the clothing industry. According to the survey, 70% of garment factories are not confident that orders will return to the previous level. At present, many enterprises are also looking for new development path of epidemic prevention materials such as masks.

Laos

Laos has a small clothing industry, which is also the largest affected by the epidemic. Xaybandith, chairman of Laos garment industry association, said that the old clothing industry was highly dependent on imports, and the port closure caused by the epidemic situation had a great impact on the supply of raw materials for the industry. Affected by the epidemic situation, imports from Thailand, China, Vietnam and other places are relatively smooth, but the import inspection is extremely strict. Since April, only the epidemic prevention work meets the requirements, and there are staff dormitories or factories where employees live near the factory can get the work permit for production, so the vitality of the whole industry is seriously insufficient. Some enterprises hope to find new export through changing production of epidemic prevention materials, but due to various reasons such as raw materials and equipment, only three enterprises have successfully changed production. At present, Laos clothing enterprises are generally facing the problem of shortage of orders, and the future development pressure is greater.

Thailand

Thailand has a relatively complete textile and clothing industry chain, but the impact of the epidemic on Thailand's industry can not be underestimated. According to jumnong, chairman of Thailand's National Textile Industry Federation, the export of Thailand's textile and garment industry has dropped by 17% and the import has dropped by 19%. Among them, imports from China decreased by 12% and imports from ASEAN decreased by 16%. Due to the shortage of orders, Thai textile and garment enterprises mostly adopt the mode of production reduction, and some factories only start operation 4 days a week. At present, the printing and dyeing enterprises are in full operation for one day a week. At the same time, the collection of existing orders is also difficult. However, the epidemic may also be a double-edged sword. Some enterprises have made good achievements in developing antibacterial products for export to Japan. Since the beginning of this year, some factories have been looking for new opportunities to expand their production capacity, and more than a dozen new factories have been put into operation. The Thai tex project, supported by the government, is also actively supporting the development of the industry.

China

On behalf of China, Xu Yingxin, vice president of China Textile Federation, introduced the development of China's textile and garment industry in recent half a year to representatives of other countries' associations. Xu said that China was the first region affected by the new epidemic. China's textile and garment industry withstood various pressures and united as one to produce epidemic prevention materials at the time of the outbreak. Through unremitting efforts, at present, it not only meets the needs of domestic anti epidemic, but also actively assists overseas epidemic prevention and control work. At present, China's textile and clothing industry is generally faced with the adverse situation of domestic and foreign demand decline. From January to June, China's clothing export decreased by 19.4% year-on-year; although the textile export increased by 27.8% year-on-year, it was mainly driven by anti epidemic materials such as masks. Since March, the decline rate of China's textile and clothing products has gradually narrowed. From January to June, the retail sales of clothing, footwear, knitwear and textiles of units above the national quota decreased by 19.6% year-on-year, 11.3% lower than that in January February. The retail sales of online wearing goods decreased by 2.9% year-on-year, 15.2% lower than that in January February. At present, the government has issued a series of measures to help enterprises to relieve the difficulties. China Textile Federation, as a bridge between government and enterprises, is also working hard. At the same time, many enterprises actively help themselves by optimizing management, innovating products, developing new markets and new channels. At present, the global epidemic situation is still severe, and the pressure faced by the industry is not reduced. China Textile Federation hopes to continue to strengthen cooperation with national associations, unite as one, and work together to ensure the stability of regional supply chain and industrial chain, so as to provide solid support for the revitalization of the global textile and clothing industry.

After the exchange of their own situation, countries began to discuss the strengthening of inter industry cooperation in the Lancang Mekong region. All agreed that it is in the interests of all parties to maintain close communication and cooperation among industries of various countries. Under the impact of the epidemic, no party can be alone. Only by strengthening mutual trust and cooperation can we jointly resist the impact of the epidemic. The associations of various countries have jointly agreed to hold regular inter industry dialogues and adhere to the dialogue and cooperation mechanism of Lancang Mekong textile and garment industry. We also firmly believe that the epidemic will eventually be brought under control, and we are confident that the global textile and garment industry will recover its vitality.