Country: Fiji

Despite being the best contributor in country’s GDP, the garment export sector of Fiji, is on all-time low on availability of skilled manpower in garmenting units. Currently, there are more than 40 garment factories in the country and most of them have been facing labour shortage issues for quite some time now.

It may be noted here that Fiji’s garment industry started exporting in the year 1987 and 10 years later, it beat sugar industries to become the ‘highest exporter’ of the country. According to Fiji Bureau of Statistics, in almost 15 years after starting garment exports, Fiji achieved US $ 151.88 million in 2001 that contributed 30.8 percent of the country’s total exports and 11.1 percent of total GDP. But in 2015, garment exportshave gone well below the expectations and settled at US $61.45 million.

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The downfall recorded is because of the aforementioned issue of manpower shortage in the sector. It has been observed lately that during the festival period workers go back to their hometowns for celebrations but many of them do not come back when factories reopen after the festive period. Some workers do return but they also stretch their leave-period – somewhere around 45 days on an average. Hence, the garment factories end up in not meeting the delivery deadlines in such circumstances and ultimately the situation hurts the export growth of the sector.

Fiji, the South-Pacific nation, has made significant appearances on the global apparel manufacturing landscape in the past one year with the most crucial development being China assuring technical assistance to the Fijian apparel manufacturing sector. The latest development in the Fiji apparel manufacturing sector is even bigger as the country has removed duty on woven fabrics and trims such as buttons and zips in order to help the country produce competitively priced products.

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Mark Halabe, MD, Mark One – a Fijian apparel manufacturer is certain that the removal of duty from the raw materials will give manufacturers in the country a better competitive edge. “For the local apparel industry (manufacturing for the local market only), there will be a better chance to compete from imports that attract full duty. This policy would lead to more local-based manufacturers being in a better position to export and grow the local economy,” said Halabe. The scheme however is of little significance to apparel manufacturers catering to the export market as the country already had the provision of the duty suspension scheme (DSS) and no duty or VAT was payable.

In an interview with a leading Fijian daily, Halabe further added that for Fiji, the next stage is to establish a tertiary level fashion school for developing the fashion design and manufacturing competence in the country so that the country is in a position to produce products such as women’s fashion, sports clothing and specialty clothing, which required higher levels of skill.

Scanlan & Theodore, an Australian fashion retailer will be setting up its manufacturing operations in the Fijian City Suva, confirmed Kaushik Kumar, the President of Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Council. “It shows there is confidence in our industry and economy and that Fiji is gearing on to produce high quality fashion apparel,” he says.

Expected to be operational early next year, the facility will employ around 120 to 150 individuals when fully operational. Fiji is another hub that is gearing up to play in the apparel export business through catering to low volume orders and working on quick just-in-time deliveries. The nation’s apparel and textile sector currently employs 6,500 to 7,000 workers.

The recently appointed Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Fiji, Zhang Ping, has assured Faiyaz Koya, Fijian Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism that China will continue assisting Fiji with technology in textile, apparel and footwear sector. The Ambassador further added that there will be several trade and investment-related visits in the coming year, providing an opportunity to further enhance trade relations. He said this includes the proposed Free Trade Agreement negotiations between Fiji and China.

In order to position itself as a competitive apparel manufacturing destination, after the introduction of the new Developing Country Preferences by the Australian Government, Fijian Attorney General and Minister for Finance, Aiyaz-Sayed Khaiyum, has emphasized the importance of developing diplomas and degrees in garment manufacturing. “We will be looking at improving skills within the industry since training for a specialized garment manufacturing is very important. It is good news for our export industry and also translates into job creation, which will further boost the Fijian economy,” the Attorney General elaborated.

Garments made in Fiji now have improved access to the Australian market with the execution of the Developing Country (DC) Preferences by the Australian Government. Fiyaz Siddiq Koya, Fiji’s Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism said, “The DC Preferences will provide Fijian exports more favourable terms of access into the Australian market than the previous SPARTECA-TFC, allowing for easier and simpler qualification requirements for duty free entry.” Through DC Preferences, Fijian exporters can now source raw materials from more efficient and cost effective sources, outside of Australia and the Pacific Region. “The Fijian TCF exporters, for example, will now be able to procure textiles, including woollen materials, from developing countries such as China, Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Vietnam, and then convert these into finished garments for duty free export into Australia,” Koya averred.