Global New Light of Myanmar reported that according to statistics from the Myanmar Ministry of Commerce, the export value of garment processing and export from October 2019 to April 2020 reached US$2.5 billion.
The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) stated that the Myanmar garment industry must first promote the change of CMP (cutting, sewing, packaging) production and transform it into FOB Quote export methods to win more orders from European and American manufacturers.
In 2020, some garment workers suffered from a shortage of raw material supply due to the COVID-19 epidemic, which led to some garment factories laying off employees or even closing factories, resulting in increased unemployment. Myanmar’s garment industry exports account for 30% of Myanmar’s exports. It is currently facing a crisis due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and the cancellation of orders by EU countries due to reduced demand. It is expected to have a negative impact on Myanmar’s garment industry’s exports this year.
According to data from Myanmar’s Ministry of Commerce, garment exports in 2015-16 were US$850 million, garment exports in 2016-17 were US$2 billion, and garment exports in 2017-18 were US$25. billion US dollars. In 2018-19, the export value of ready-made garment exports reached US$4.6 billion. The export value has grown rapidly year by year. The export markets are mainly Japan, the European Union, South Korea, China and the United States. Recently, with the growth of ready-made garment exports, the import value of ready-made garment raw materials has also increased. Growing trend year by year.
Due to the shortage of raw materials caused by the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic, it is recommended that Myanmar should establish a complete industrial supply chain of spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing for the garment industry to cope with this. According to the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA), the association currently has about 500 member manufacturers and employs about 500,000 garment workers. Foreign investment in Myanmar’s garment industry is based on Myanmar’s current advantages of sufficient labor and low labor wage costs. </p
