Report: Myanmar textile industry recovering from U.S. sanctions
Report: Myanmar textile industry recovering from U.S. sanctions
Associated Press YANGON, Myanmar
Myanmar's textile industry, hit hard by U.S. sanctions, is showing signs of recovery as factories find new markets in Europe, a semi-government weekly reported.
About 100 of Myanmar's 300 garment factories have been forced to close and nearly 25,000 people made jobless since the United States imposed sanctions in July to pressure the ruling junta to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The weekly Myanmar Times newspaper, published Monday, said the textile industry has shown signs of improvement in the past two months as companies find alternative markets.
"Many of the textile companies have increased sales through contracts with buyers in Europe," the Myanmar Times said.
The report could not be independently confirmed.
"Companies are trading more with Germany, Spain and France. Even sales to Britain have risen," the weekly quoted Myint Soe, chairman of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers' Association, as saying.
A spokesman for the Chindwin Banner Textile company told the weekly that it had reopened 12 of its factories after finding new markets in Europe. The spokesman was not identified.
Managing director of Crocodile Textiles, Zaw Min Oo, who had to close two of his factories, was quoted as saying that business has increased around 20 percent in the past few months and that he will consider reopening his factories.
The U.S. sanctions banned Myanmar imports, froze the U.S. assets of Myanmar officials and stopped all U.S. dollar remittances to the country. Myanmar's exports to the United States - mostly garments - totaled about US$356 million in 2002.
About 350,000 workers, mostly young women, were employed at 300 textile and garment factories before the sanctions. According to earlier official reports, the U.S. sanctions would affect 1 million people if workers in related businesses and families were counted.
The United States accounted for 75 percent of Myanmar's textile exports while the remaining 25 percent went to European countries, according to pre-sanctions figures.