Institute seeks help from govt, banks

Some 120,000 textile and garment SMEs employing more than 600,000 workers need help from state agencies and banks amid the economic sluggishness in euro-zone countries that has resulted in a severe drop in exports to the European market, the Thailand Textile Institute said yesterday.

THTI executive director Suttinee Poopaka said the institute was seeking assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry after finding that they are suffering badly from the economic crunch in the euro zone.

SMEs, which employ about 60 per cent of the 1 million workers in the industry, have been seriously affected by a slowdown in exports of Thai textiles and garments to the European Union. They should, therefore, receive financial support and marketing assistance with a view to penetrating new markets, she said.

The institute has called for government agencies and banks to provide soft loans to assist affected SMEs, besides which the THTI will help enterprises to penetrate new markets, attend international trade fairs and arrange business clusters to help them reduce operating costs, she added.

According to institute data, exports of Thai textiles and garments dropped by 15 per cent in the first five months of the year. Shipments to the EU experienced the sharpest decline, at 27 per cent, followed by sales to China, which fell by 16 per cent, the United States (down 19 per cent), Japan (down 4 per cent) and Asean (down 2 per cent).

Despite the significant fall in exports so far this year, Suttinee believes shipments will recover in the second half as businesses concentrate more on promoting growth to Asean and other Asian markets to compensate for the drop-off in sales to euro-zone countries.

Full-year textile and garment exports are expected to be worth about US$8.27 billion (Bt260 billion), the same as last year, she said.

Meanwhile, as part of its strategy to promote the industry’s growth, the institute has drawn up a plan to promote the development of Thailand as a textile and garment design centre over the next five years.

With a strong upstream and downstream to support the sector’s growth, the institute will emphasise the promotion of design and marketing development, she said.

The THTI targets the promotion of added value for textiles and garments and achieving average export growth of 12 per cent a year to $2.4 billion in annual sales to the Asean market. Exports to Asean currently rise by 8 per cent annually and were worth $1.54 billion last year.

In addition, more extensive use of technology will be adopted to boost the sector’s development. 

For instance, Suttinee said many businesses would focus on making special products that create higher value, such as bulletproof shirts, nanotechnology shirts and bed sheets, fire-proof bedding, mosquito-repellent cloth for monks, and Muslim apparel.