Sourcing countries to watch: Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan up their ante

While some speak (a bit hastily) of the Bangladesh bubble

having finally burst, others are ready to push into any available gaps that this rupture or leak may open. Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan are two such countries just waiting to prove what they can do in terms of textile and apparel production.

Taking advantage of its strategic location in South Asia just off the coast of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka is keen on putting itself on the map for garment production. Its secretary to the treasury PB Jayasundera recently remarked at the tenth AGM of the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) that Sri Lanka is neither a tea nor a cinnamon nation but an apparel nation, pointing to the fact that 2013 was Sri Lanka’s best export year to date: The nation of more than 20 million people achieved 4.3 billion US dollars in garment exports, an increase of 13 percent compared to 3.8 billion US dollars in 2012.

According to JAAF chairman Noel Piyatillake, the challenge is not only to sustain this business but also to grow, a sentiment that Jayasundera seconds; according to him, the Sri Lankan apparel should strive to be among the top ten exporters in the world. As Sri Lanka’s advantages, he cites the country’s best ethical practices, which are “an integral part of the country’s businesses” as well as a diversified power generation that guarantees no power cuts for the apparel industry. He also says that Sri Lanka should enter the global market as a world class designer fabric producer. A conclusion of the proposed Sri Lanka-China free trade agreement this year itself would also propel Sri Lanka forward in the world apparel trade.

Though the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan is far from these figures with an annual turnover of its textile industry of 400 million US dollars, all efforts are being made to establish the country as a textile and garment producing nation. To that effect, investments amounting to 1.6 billion US dollars have been made in textile manufacturing units since the country’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Like its northeastern neighbor Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan is a traditional cotton growing nation, harvesting around 1.05 million tonnes of raw cotton annually (2013). Thus, the cotton production forms the basis for the development of its textile industry and since the aforementioned investments in textile manufacturing, cotton fibre processing has gone up by 51 percent. According to the latest report by the country’s textile ministry, Turkmenistan currently has an annual production capacity of around 177,000 tons of yarn, 186 million square meters of cotton fabrics, 11,000 tons of knitted fabrics, 7,200 tons of terry fabrics and 80 million pieces of knitwear and garments.

Though still in its infancy, the Turkmen textile and garment industry has the capacity to grow further, with president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressing the country’s investments in infrastructure and innovation to ensure a competitive export position. Currently, main importers are the US, Canada, Russia, Turkey, China, Ukraine, Germany, Italy and the UK with international retailers and brands like Sara Lee, Walmart, JC Penney, Puma and others already having discovered Turkmenistan for their garment and textile sourcing needs.