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Singapore : Logistics firms get ambitious as textile and garment quotas to go |
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2004-8-13
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While major shake up in the global textile industry occurs as the quotas are to go, logistics companies from Singapore hope to reap benefit by courting garment producers in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.
At present, all garment exports are governed by a complex quota system introduced by the World Trade Organization - the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
But that agreement comes to an end at the beginning of 2005, removing those export quotas and effectively creating a level playing field for all garment manufacturers.
Representatives from almost two dozen logistics companies based here will leave Thursday on a tour of the three countries, where clothing companies will face upheaval as of January 1, 2005.
According to observers, the resulting scramble for business to largely benefit companies in China and India where production costs are the lowest.
But International Enterprise Singapore, a government body to promote companies overseas, said Singapore''s logistics firms could help clothes makers from Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia to beat off the competition by improving their transport links to key markets.
"Textile and garment makers from Indochina will face increased competition from global players, especially China," a statement from IE Singapore and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said.
"A critical way to counter this (expected) competition is to optimize their transport and logistics management," the statement said.
Among those represented on the eight-day tour are Neptune Orient Lines, the world''s seventh largest shipping line, and a local unit of Danish maritime group A.P. Moeller-Maersk.
Southeast Asian manufacturers in most sectors - not just garments - have been facing fast-rising competition from China in recent years, where labor costs are low and the economy is booming. |
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