MGMA backs garment industry to boom when US sanctions are lifted

Myanmar’s leading garment industry body has been buoyed by the lifting of sanctions it hopes will see a return to the glory days for the sector, when in the early 2000s a majority of country’s garments were shipped to the US. Speaking at a manufacturing trade fair in Yangon on September 26, U Myint Soe, chair of the of Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, told The Myanmar Times that the lifting of sanctions is a boon for the fledgling industry, as international garment buyers from the US would have more confidence in doing business with Myanmar, while relieving pressure on financial transactions would also encourage more US trade. He said that Japan, Europe and South Korea are the leading markets for local garment exports, with the US trailing those countries. “There has not been a lot sent to the US market in the last year until recently,” U Myint Soe said. “The exports to the US are said to be low because of the sanctions.”

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