The regional textile industry has come under near-term threat from the global Covid-19 outbreak, especially for key producer Cambodia.
Sian Fenner, lead Asia economist at Oxford Economics, noted in a recent report that lockdowns adopted to contain the spread of the virus “have had a severe impact on manufacturing and exports” in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).
The textile industry was singled out as a casualty, as more than 55 per cent of the materials that go to clothes manufacturing in Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam come from their Chinese neighbour where factories were shuttered in early 2020.
