ASEAN Region Encouraged to Grow from Within
February 13, 2013 Addressing the textile industry at the ‘Prime Source Forum-Focus on ASEAN,’ Mark Lee, vice president of Singapore Textile and Fashion Federation, said ASEAN companies will have to further intensify the vertical integration of their textile and garment industry in order to increasingly benefit from a shift in production and sourcing base from China.
Giving an overview of the ASEAN textile and garment market and its export potential, Ade Sudrajat, chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), said the 640 million inhabitants of the ASEAN region creates a huge market for apparels within the region. Secondly, initiation ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 will speed up the flow of capital, labor and goods within the ten-nation block.
Moreover, the free trade agreements (FTA) between ASEAN and other countries like Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, along with the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will bring both investors and buyers into the region, he added.
Speakers at the conference also stressed the need for investing in raw materials production. For example, Vietnam imports yarn for its textile and garment industry from China and if it is available within ASEAN, Vietnamese manufacturers could source their yarn from there and decrease costs, said one expert.
Integrating the ASEAN regional supply chain is essential to increasing the competitiveness of the ASEAN apparel sector in future, he said.
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