Page 14 - Ragtrader Magazine April 2020

14 APRIL 2020
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of the association discussed the challenges they’re facing due to the out of stock nature of raw materials which came from China due to Covid-19.
Garment production has long been one of the important pillar industries in Myanmar. There are more than five mil- lion garment workers in the Yangon region alone. At present, as much as 90% of the clothing raw materials used in the country are imported from China. Once the sup- ply of raw materials is broken, almost all factories will be unable to produce, cannot fulfil the contracts signed with customers, and of course cannot accept workers to return to work.
At the same time, Japanese fashion giant Uniqlo, like many fashion compa- nies around the world, is enduring diffi- culties under the influence of the Covid- 19. Vietnam is one of Uniqlo’s important production bases, and about 60% of the clothing raw materials used in Vietnam come from China. In terms of current impact, the delivery time of Uniqlo’s Vietnam orders will be generally delayed by two to three weeks.
In Cambodia, another clothing produc- tion destination, ministry spokesman for the Ministry of Labour spokesman Heng Sour said at a media conference on 27 February that due to the interruption of the supply of clothing raw materials by China, 10 factories had already been closed and around 3,000 workers had been affected. Estimates are that as many as 200 factories will face raw material shortage if supplies coming from China continue to be delayed, and as many as 160,000 workers could be laid off if those supplies don’t arrive in the very-near future.
The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen asked Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian to help coordinate the delivery of those supplies to garment factories whether by ship or by Cambodian and Chinese planes. “I think that my Chinese friends can do this,” he said. After all, the garment manufacturing industry is currently the largest industry in Cambodia, generating