Unique opportunities for Sri Lanka’s apparel industry due to US-China trade tensions says expert
A top expert in Sri Lanka has reportedly said that the trade tensions between the US and China has presented Sri Lanka’s apparel industry with unique opportunities.
The expert has paid special attention the value addition and transformational changes in cost structures underpinned by increased productivity and competitiveness.
“The trade war between the US and China is not a threat but an opportunity for the apparel industry,” Teejay Lanka Plc Director Hasitha Premaratne has reportedly stated at an investor forum organised by Softlogic Capital Markets recently.
He has noted that the price factor had always been a major concern for the industry and that if Sri Lanka could take a 10 cent difference in the overall scheme of things and apply it to take the price down, the industry could take on a lot of orders as result of the trade tensions between the two economic giants.
“As a result of the trade tensions between the countries, US apparel importers who were sourcing their products from China are coming to Sri Lanka. So, if we take a transformational approach to the price while increasing productivity levels and attacking wastage, we can bring more orders at the prices that we are taking and still make a good margin,” he has been further quoted as saying.
Premaratne has stated that Sri Lanka had ample opportunity to further partner and penetrate regional markets with value additions.
“If you look at the value addition opportunity from a South Asian perspective, there is a great opportunity for Sri Lanka. India has a population of 1.2 billion, Pakistan has over 260 million and Bangladesh has 160 million people, which as a whole is bigger than China. Therefore, we can take all the resources available in the region, such as labour, low-cost manufacturing capabilities and cotton, to create value added products,” he has added.
According to Premaratne, as Sri Lanka’s apparel industry was much more mature, the country had the potential to be a controlling hub as it possessed an extremely high design capability, development capacity and human capital.
OSL take:
As stated by the top expert, Sri Lanka possesses ample opportunity to benefit from the US-China trade battle. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the ease of doing business environment in the country and the many trade agreements as well as the trade concessions enjoyed by the country have made it an attractive business destination in the South Asian region. Foreign companies could use these benefits to explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s apparel sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/24102019/Z_5 |