Textile market share, productivity 'must rise'

Dej Pathanasethpong, president of the National Federation of Thai Textile Industries, said the country's annual textile exports should reach $20 billion by 2015. To achieve this, Thailand's world market share has to rise from 1.3 per cent to 2 per cent and productivity per head has to increase to at least Bt100,000 per month.

It is forecast that Asia will become the world's textile manufacturing hub. Developed countries such as the US, Canada and European Union members have given up trying to compete, as high labour costs have forced them to pull out of the labour-intensive textile industry, opting instead to produce hi-tech and high-value products.

Since 2006, the value of the global textile market has risen to $635 billion with average growth of 9 per cent per year.

Dej said Thailand's garment exports had grown by nearly 3 per cent in line with world economic growth.

The textile industry has undergone a sea change since quotas were eliminated under a World Trade Organisation agreement in 2003. This turned Western countries from manufacturers into importers due to high production costs.

"Quota liberalisation has paved the way for stronger manufacturers to develop and expand their businesses, but small producers were squeezed out," Dej said.

Asia has great potential to become the manufacturing centre of the world due to easy access to raw materials and a huge pool of low-paid workers.

Currently, 80 per cent of raw materials use in and garment manufacturing are sourced from Asian countries.

For instance, many major polyester producers are based in Asia, so manufacturers in the region have lower transportation costs than those based in Europe or the US.

"Manufacturing plants are set up close to suppliers of raw materials in order to reduce production lead times," Dej said.

He suggested exporters should concentrate on meeting changing customer demand from high-value goods to cheaper mass-produced goods.