Myanmar garment industry struggles as European Union (EU) countries that account for 70 per cent of the country’s garment export market, cancelled orders last week because of the obvious reasons. Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) chief said that all the factories that had accepted orders from the EU have stopped their operations. The industry is clueless about how to tackle these transcendent times! As China resumes its operations to normalcy and the supply of raw materials from China flow back into the country after 3 months of stoppage, what stands as a hurdle is the cancellation of orders by EU and US buyers. As the European nations face lockdown, the buyers have cancelled their orders, which is a major concern for garment factories in Myanmar. They are not willing to take the orders that are ready in the inventories and waiting to be dispatched. The subsequent consequence of this hitch is the shutdown of factories and reduced number of workers. This has led to labour unrest including the strike at the Grand Enterprises Garment Co. Ltd. – one of the garment manufacturing companies in Myanmar as the company announced a layoff of thousands of workers. Since January, 38 cut-make-pack factories that also include the garment factories have shut down as per the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. Out of these 38 factories, 22 were garment factories! Myanmar is sourcing its raw materials from China and amidst all the gloom, the only good news is that Korean and Japanese buyers haven’t yet cancelled their orders.
