‘Labour market reforms, the need of the hour’

By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

“The apparel industry needs to be transformed to generate $5 b and this commitment should be translated into policy and legal reforms. Productivity improvement and labour market reforms is the need of the hour.

We have customers adopting a more conservative purchasing strategy, requiring shorter lead times, quicker response and greater flexibility from the manufacturing base,” Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association, Chairman Yohan Lawrence said at the Annual General Meeting recently.

The coming year will be challenging to the industry and will push the boundaries of the high levels of resilience that the industry has shown if we are to achieve any level of growth, let alone eight percent.

“We started on a weak footing. At $2.8 b dollars up to the end of September, in value terms we are nearly seven percent down on exports against last year. Our target of $5 b dollars seems just so far away at this point, he said. “Our decline in exports comes from our biggest markets of the US and the EU, which are down by nearly six percent in the case of the US and almost 10 percent in the case of the EU.

At the same time, we need to be cautious about pinning hope on the non US and EU markets, as the growth in this sector is partly due to customers having exports to the region being shipped directly from Sri Lanka rather than route these via the EU. he said.The increase in the 'ease of doing business' ratings helps. However, we also need to deliver in against the customer’s calls for a faster, more efficient supply chain out of Sri Lanka. “We can grow and ensure that sustainability of the industry is through product development and innovation.

To survive we need to create an environment that will actively support and give the industry the flexibility to adapt to the changing requirements of the customer and be one step ahead of our competitors”, Lawrence said.