Thailand ready to pounce
14/11/2008
The Thailand Textile Institute (THTI) believes the country will be in a strong position to win business from China and Bangladesh in 2009 as overseas buyers look for alternatives.
"This will be an opportunity for us. We believe our exports next year will still expand even though growth will be less strong than the 10% we will achieve this year," said the institute's executive director Virat Tandaechanurat.
He claimed that buyers were reducing their orders from Chinese textile and garment manufacturers because of "delivery problems".
He pointed out that costs in China have also gone up since the government cancelled tax incentives for exporters and tightened up labour-welfare laws.
He also said there was evidence of buyers in the big economies moving away from Bangladesh because of instances of poor labour management practices.
Thailand also has better credit than the other two countries in terms of benefits from the Asean Free-Trade Area, Mr Virat continued. "Our country is located in the centre of the region. Hence, if we improve our products to conform to customer demand, we'll have an obvious advantage in increasing our regional market share," he said.
At the beginning of the year, the institute set a target to boost the country's textile and garment exports to $12 billion in 2013, up from $7.6 billion this year. However, Virat admitted the THTI was evaluating the impact of the global economic slowdown, in order to make a new projection next January.
The textile and garment industry employs 1.08 million workers in Thailand, but he said labour demand remained strong in garment factories.
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