In April this year, the Kyrgyzstan Textile Industry Investment Promotion Conference was held in Beijing. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister Babanov expressed his strong desire to introduce equipment, technology, capital and production experience, establish joint ventures, and revitalize Kyrgyzstan’s textile industry. At the same time, in July this year, my country’s Xinjiang Garment (Apparel) Industry Association led a group of Xinjiang entrepreneurs to inspect Central Asian countries. Zhang Tongzhi, president of the Xinjiang Garment Industry Association, said that the Xinjiang Autonomous Region is negotiating with the Kyrgyz government and will plan to A garment industrial park covering an area of approximately 530,000 square meters is being built locally. It can be seen that Kyrgyzstan and Chinese textile and apparel companies are likely to collide with new sparks in the future.
Chinese Enterprises: Combining Export and Investment
Just as the national textile and apparel industry is accelerating its westward expansion, Duan Weiming, general manager of Xinjiang Mingzhong Garment Co., Ltd., is busy building a clothing production base in Kyrgyzstan. Data released by the National Statistics Committee of Kyrgyzstan show that in the first six months of this year, Kyrgyzstan’s total foreign trade import and export volume was US$3.129 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%, and the import volume decreased by 9.5% year-on-year. Among them, the import value of textiles dropped by US$18.5 million. Despite this, for Duan Weiming, who has been operating the Central Asian market for many years, risks and opportunities coexist here. There is a market, demand, and great potential.
Xinjiang Mingzhong Garment Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the production, processing and export of clothing. Its main products are men’s and women’s suits, suits, down jackets and cotton clothing, etc., with an annual production capacity of 260,000 sets of clothing and an annual output value of 20 million yuan. Last year, the company achieved export sales of US$8.07 million, and sales in the first eight months of this year alone reached nearly US$9 million, exceeding the sales in all of 2013. Duan Weiming said: “Currently, most of our products have entered the Russian and Eastern European markets. This year, the company’s production and processing capabilities have continued to increase, and there are sufficient orders in the Kyrgyzstan market. Orders for cotton clothing, women’s skirts and other ready-made garments have increased by 40% compared with the same period last year. About %, which is an important factor in the company’s performance growth this year. In addition, this year we also undertook orders for some school uniforms for students in the country.” Duan Weiming predicts that by the end of this year, the company’s sales will exceed US$100 million. Currently, the company has sales outlets in Dordoy Market in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Balahok Market in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It hopes to radiate the Russian market and other Central Asian countries through these two outlets.
Duan Weiming also said that with the political and economic development of Central Asian countries, their demand for foreign investment and imports is also changing. Taking Kyrgyzstan as an example, the country has currently developed from a single import to a business model that combines import and investment. Therefore, it is difficult for Chinese textile and garment companies to simply export garments to this country. This is also an important reason why Xinjiang Mingzhong Garment Co., Ltd. is eager to establish a clothing production base in the country.
Kyrgyzstan: Technical talents are favored
Kyrgyzstan’s labor force is poorly trained and dispersed, with a high degree of labor outflow. The unemployment rate is 10% to 20% of the active population. Affected by political turmoil, the government has no ability or willingness to create jobs. Hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz workers regularly travel to Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries, causing seasonal labor shortages in the country, especially during the cotton harvest. The main person in charge of the Kyrgyzstan Federation of Markets, Enterprises and Services said that many entrepreneurs are very anxious due to the lack of skilled garment workers. In fact, the manufacturing company has many orders and many novel designs, but there are no workers to sew them. Even those garment workers who have been sewing for many years need to be retrained.
This situation was also confirmed by Mao Lingyan, deputy general manager of the Overseas Sales Department of Feiyue Group. Not only sewing workers, but also after-sales and other technical personnel are also in short supply. Feiyue Group’s leading industry is the production of sewing equipment. Mao Lingyan said: “Kyrgyzstan’s textile market environment determines its demand for talents. Last year, Feiyue Group’s sales of textile sewing machine equipment exported to Kyrgyzstan reached US$1 million. This is due to the group’s comprehensive local after-sales service. At the same time, we have also specially equipped with corresponding professional and technical personnel, established local offices and sent staff as permanent representatives to provide product consultation and after-sales services. We will also Communicate through email, video and other means of communication. There is still a big gap in technical talents in Kyrgyzstan. While selling equipment, we also do everything in the after-sales and maintenance aspects. This has increased equipment orders to a certain extent and driven The export of products has also expanded the market share of Feiyue sewing machine equipment in the country and established a corporate brand, which to a certain extent will help us further radiate our products to surrounding Central Asian markets.”
In addition, Mao Lingyan said that Central Asian countries have relatively strict foreign exchange controls, relatively complicated payment procedures, and relatively high transportation costs. As a developing country, Kyrgyzstan has both opportunities and risks. Many factors make most foreign investment companies still wait and see about investing in the country.