International news, a few days ago, the well-known Danish clothing brand Bestseller issued another statement. Due to concerns about the epidemic prevention measures of garment factories, Bestseller will suspend sending new clothing orders to Myanmar garment factories until the risk of the epidemic is eliminated. .
Previously, the World Federation of Labor (IndustriALL) and the Federation of Production, Industrial/Handicraft Workers of Myanmar (IWFM) jointly issued a statement that 2 An IWFM member died after contracting COVID-19. In addition, more than 100 workers’ organization leaders at the factory were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Bestseller is a well-known fashion company founded in Denmark and owns many well-known clothing brands. Bestseller has thousands of direct stores and more than 6,000 agents around the world, but it does not have its own processing plants. Its main suppliers are located in Europe and Asia.
From the statement released by Bestseller Group, we learned that after making the decision to suspend orders to Myanmar, it may cause human rights-related issues. In this regard, Bestseller Group will shoulder the corresponding obligations and responsibilities, so it will not cancel orders that have been placed. Bestseller Garment Group believes that existing orders can bring certain help to the clothing, food, housing and transportation of Myanmar garment factory workers.
Affected by various factors, Myanmar’s already exhausted manufacturing and production industry has suffered huge blows many times, and many foreign investments that have been struggling have been suspended. Myanmar projects will not continue investment plans until the business environment improves.
The influx of orders from Myanmar is not obvious, and the Myanmar currency continues to depreciate
After the epidemic in India, Vietnam and other countries gets out of control, will orders flow to neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia? Due to the unstable political situation in Myanmar, many customers are afraid to place more orders in Myanmar rashly, and the influx of orders is not obvious. Myanmar’s economy has been hit hard one after another. The kyat has continued to depreciate this year, with the kyat exchange rate hitting a record low. Since the beginning of February, the Central Bank of Myanmar has injected more than US$110 million into the market 30 times to stabilize the exchange rate of the kyat.
Since August, the Central Bank of Myanmar has injected US$23 million into the exchange rate market six times, but the kyat has depreciated by nearly 20% in the past six months. Currency depreciation has put food and drug prices under greater upward pressure, and cash flow shortages caused by bank withdrawal restrictions have also made it difficult for many businesses and trade to maintain operations.
Ms. Wu, the person in charge of a garment factory in Yangon, Myanmar, told reporters that the epidemic had little impact on the operation of factories in Myanmar. The biggest factor was the political instability at the beginning of the year. Garment factories mainly purchase raw materials from China, receive orders from Europe, the United States, Australia and other places, process the finished clothes and then send them to the international market. The political situation was unstable at the beginning of the year, and many companies closed down. Due to the uncertainty about the future, many customers did not dare to place orders at Myanmar factories. From May 20 to July 20, Ms. Wu’s garment factory did not accept orders for two full months. to a new order.
To make matters worse, rising raw material and freight prices have further eroded the profits of Myanmar’s garment factories. Take shipping as an example. In previous years, Ms. Wu purchased raw materials from China and shipped them to Myanmar for about US$2,000 per container. Now it has doubled to about US$4,000 to five thousand per container, which is double the price. Sea transportation is expensive, and land transportation is also forced to detour through Vietnam, Cambodia and then to Myanmar due to epidemic prevention and control at the China-Myanmar border.
Cambodia undertakes the transfer of some orders
Cambodia, which relies on the garment and footwear industry as its main source of income for economic development, has accepted some orders transferred due to the impact of the epidemic.
Zhang Liang, a Chinese who has lived in Cambodia for more than 20 years, said: “It is true that some orders have been transferred to Cambodia. Our factory has more than 7,000 people. Orders have been on the rise recently. We The factory is still being expanded.”
Due to different epidemic control policies, the Cambodian authorities will not immediately shut down the factory after the outbreak. “Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the factory has not stopped working. If an epidemic occurs in the factory, it depends on the proportion of people who are sick. If there are few patients, the factory can handle it by itself and let the workers rest at home. The Cambodian government will not directly stop production. If it is stopped, many people will lose their source of livelihood,” Zhang Liang said.
Zhang Liang took Qiandal Province as an example. Qiandal Province has more than 200 large and small garment and shoe factories, processing and manufacturing of imported products. It has become a supporting industry in Cambodia. After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, Cambodia’s tourism industry was severely hit. The number of tourists at the world-famous tourist attraction Angkor Wat dropped sharply.�People have lost their source of income, and the Cambodian government pays more attention to the stability of the manufacturing industry.
The epidemic situation in Cambodia is also not optimistic. On September 6, 528 new cases were diagnosed in Cambodia. As of 13:00 on September 7, Cambodia had a total of approximately 96,000 confirmed cases, a total of 91,000 cured cases, and a total of 1,981 deaths. Currently, the Delta variant virus has spread to 23 provinces and cities, with only Kep and Kratie provinces remaining unaffected.
Cheap labor costs have always been one of the competitive advantages of Southeast Asian countries, with a lot of added value Low-cost factories have moved from China to Southeast Asian countries. In 1999, when Zhang Liang first arrived in Cambodia, Cambodian workers’ basic salary was about US$30 per month. This year, the basic salary of Cambodian garment and shoe workers has increased to 195 US dollars, and the overtime pay is 1.5 times. When the order volume is large, workers can earn about 300 US dollars a month.
Zhang Liang believes that the severe epidemic in Vietnam has both advantages and disadvantages for some companies. The advantage is that some orders from Vietnam have been transferred to Cambodia. The disadvantage is that some factories need to purchase raw materials from Vietnam. Vietnam Many cities have been closed and factories have stopped working. Factories often experience shortages of materials and can only urgently purchase them from China. However, the Vietnam epidemic has had little impact on luggage processing factories, whose raw materials basically come from China. </p
