Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam are experiencing a drop of exports from garment and textile

Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam are experiencing a drop of exports from garment and textile

By Chea Sophal

Cambodian garment and textile industry is one of the major export earners for Cambodian economy. It has been previously seen as a robust garment industry, which provides two-thirds of Cambodia’s export earnings, is now taking a hard hit from the global financial crisis. According to the Ministry of Commerce, garment export revenue fell from $250 million U.S dollars to $70 million from January 2008-9[1].
Every year, 250,000 to 300,000 people enter the labor force. These people together with the recently unemployed workers will face more difficulties in time of turmoil especially during the economic downturn.

At the same time, Vietnam News[2] reported that enterprises in the textile and garment sector are facing the same decline in export value and a lack of orders in March 2009. The General Statistics Office said that the total value of the sector exports was estimated to reach $550 million dollars in February, lower than January’s $722 million U.S dollars. However, the total value increased to $1.27 billion in the first two months of the year a 0.7 per cent increase over the last year.

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) said that Vietnam’s textile and garment sector would have difficulties in exporting its products this year because orders for Vietnamese textiles and garments had declined sharply from last year in key markets including the U.S and European Union.

The Vietnam News further indicated that seventy per cent of the country’s textile and garment exports have had orders to produce till the end of this month and they have to wait for orders for future months. Volumes for these orders have fallen 30-50 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The Bangladesh’s textile and garment also witnessed a shinking export in the months to come since the export fell by 17.5 per cent in January and February, said the president of BGMEA.

Exporters said it would be difficult to retain the export target of over $16 billion for the current fiscal year despite being affected by the world economic downsizing, the Daily Star reported. The industry sees the placement of overall export orders declined dramatically in February and early March.
[1] http://www.boston.com/news/world/blog/2009/03/phnom_penhs_gar.html
[2] http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=04BUS120309