Reuters quoted the fire department and local media reports on April 7 that a fire broke out at a Chinese-owned garment factory called JOC in Yangon that day, and there were no reports of casualties.
China Global Television Network (CGTN) pointed out on the 7th that the factory involved caught fire at 5:35 a.m. and the fire was extinguished at 6:55 a.m. Factory employees said the incident may have been caused by arson because the entrance first caught fire when the incident occurred and there was a smell of gasoline nearby. The factory estimates that the loss is about 8 million yuan.
Myanmar’s shoe and clothing factory orders have been suspended in large numbers . Moreover, many Chinese-owned shoe and apparel factories in Myanmar were burned down, causing heavy losses, causing the shoe and apparel industry, which is crucial to Myanmar’s economy, to face a crisis.
According to Reuters, two years after opening a garment factory in Myanmar, Chinese Mr. Li’s factory is on the verge of closure.
He said, “If there are no new orders in the next few months, we will have no choice but to give up on Myanmar.” He said that his factory has been operating at about 20% capacity recently and can only rely on orders before the coup. It has already laid off 400 people.
Mr. Li said that with the world’s second-largest fashion retailer Sweden’s H&M, as well as Britain’s NEXT and Primark, Italy’s Benetton and other large fashion brands halting business with the country due to the coup in Myanmar, trade, he and many of his peers are considering moving factories to other low-cost locations such as mainland China, Cambodia or Vietnam.
Vietnam garment factory owner Ravi Chunilal told Reuters that he began to receive more business transferred from Myanmar.
According to data from the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, nearly a third of Myanmar’s 600 garment factories are invested by Chinese citizens. They are by far the largest in Myanmar. investment groups.
Khin May Htway, a partner at MyanWei Consulting Group, which advises Chinese investors in Myanmar, said that at least two Chinese-owned garment factories in Myanmar have decided to close, and their total 3,000 workers are employed. She declined to identify the two companies because they are her clients.
Late last month, the United States imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar’s military, suspended trade negotiations with Myanmar, and said it was reviewing its Generalized System of Preferences (Generalized System of Preferences). System of Preferences), which reduces tariffs and provides other trade benefits to developing countries.
American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) President Steve Lamar said that this may herald “chaos” in the future of Myanmar’s garment industry.
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