Myanmar’s garment sector is on track to meet a target of $10 billion in exports, according to the Myanmar Garment Entrepreneurs Association (MGEA), which had laid out the target and a goal to create one million jobs under the Myanmar Garment Industry Strategic Plan 2014-2024. Export figures rose from $800 million in 2015-16 to over $4 billion in the current fiscal. As the number of factories increased last year, export volumes increased as well, said Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association chairman U Myint Soe. In the near term, more Chinese businesses are also relocating to Myanmar because of the US-China trade war and around 80 per cent of the new investments in the cut-make-pack (CMP) businesses in Myanmar are from China, he said, adding that garment enterprises from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have entered Myanmar. The export volume for fiscal 2018-19 up to August was worth $4.37 billion compared to the $3.2 billion figure in the same period a year ago—an increase of $1.17 billion, said ministry of commerce deputy secretary U Khing Maung Lwin. Garment exports have been rising yearly in Myanmar, especially since 2013, when the European Union granted goods from Myanmar preferential access to the EU market under the Everything But Arms tariff scheme. The industry is being boosted by Thai CMP firms setting up shop in Myawaddy in Kayin state near the Thailand border to derive benefits from the EU’s preferential treatment for Myanmar, a newspaper report quoted the official as saying. New factories are also boosting volumes he added.
