The SMART Myanmar team is busy preparing for the upcoming EU trade delegation visit to Myanmar, currently scheduled for the week of March 22nd-27th.
The EU financed SMART Myanmar project engages in direct support activities with 16 factories, and has a wider factory network encompasing approximately 275 garment factories. As part of SMART’s mission, the project team is pleased to facilitate trade linkages between producers in Myanmar and buyers in Europe in order to help the Myanmar garment sector grow in a responsible direction. EU social and environmental requirements encourage responsible business practices, and they demonstrate that responsible sourcing can go hand-in-hand with profitable production. sequa g GmbH Germany leads a consortium of partners with the objective to improve the sustainable competitiveness of the Myanmar garment sector.
This exciting week when SMART welcomes the EU trade delegation will bring together about one dozen European retailers and brands with manufacturers in Myanmar pre-selected by the SMART Myanmar team from their database of over 90 factories. Only those factories fitting the needs & requirements of the EU buyers will be chosen. Hence, this is an excellent form of free business-matchmaking for EU buyers unfamiliar with Myanmar’s garment sector.
In addition to arranging factory visits, SMART Myanmar will organize presentations and networking opportunities to educate EU buyers on the exciting potential of this dynamic and rapidly growing market. Garment exports for 2014 are estimated to have exceeded initial projections, closing for the year at well over the $1.5 billion dollar (USD). This jump – several hundred million dollars in one year’s time – occurred in large part because of a rapid increase in exports to the EU, along with increased exports to the US and many other markets as well.
In 2013, several large EU brands began sourcing garments from Myanmar, and in 2014 many of them expanded their sourcing and production operations. H&M, Primark and about a dozen other well-known brands have diversified some portion of their sourcing operations into Myanmar. The biggest single reason for this shift has been to take advantage of the EU GSP trade incentive, which allows for zero tariff on most garment imports from Myanmar.
The Confederation of German Textile and Fashion (t+m), one of SMART Myanmar’s project partners, is coordinating the EU related details of this trade mission. A few delegation spots are still available if your company would like to join with several other EU retailers and spend a week meeting with potential factory partners & garment producers.
Late registrations for participants will be accepted up until January30th. Please contact:
[email protected] for further details.
