The Myanmar garment industry is out with their 10-year Strategy (2015-2024) which states that the industry will start exporting cut-make-pack (CMP) products to the markets in the US, Canada and Russia, and the EU (except United Kingdom, Germany and Spain where it is already exporting).
It may be mentioned here that Myanmar has been exporting majorly to Japan since 2010. In the year 2013, Japan accounted for 38 per cent of the country’s total garment exports, with Korea a close second at 31 per cent, EU at 14 per cent and all others at 18 per cent. The MGMA also mentions that during 2014 exports to the EU are estimated to have doubled and exports to the US risen from US $ 1 million in 2013 to approximately US $ 20 million in 2014.
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The garment industry of Myanmar is growing at a rapid pace with exports growing from US $ 349 million in 2010 to an MGMA estimate of approximately US $ 1.6 billion in 2014. Now with 10-year Strategy (2015-2024) in place, the sector aims to reach US $ 10 billion mark in garment exports from the country.
However, Myint Soe, Chairman of Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) is of the opinion that the country needs to change the way it works to achieve this vision. He said, “Currently, the garment industry is operating under the CMP system, but we want to shift from the CMP to the FOB (free-on-board) production system,” adding, “The country plans to operate 1,500 garment factories by 2025 and employ one million staffers.”
