12:42:51 PM | 25/7/2006
Thailand’s Liberty Textile and Garment Group will pour US$25 million into five projects in Ben Tre province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.
The five projects include a garment plant producing products bearing Adidas and Nike brands, a textile factory, a dyeing plant, a plastic factory and a packaging plant.
The Thai group will invest in two phases with the 100 per cent Thai-invested mode. In the first phase, it will invest US$15 million and rent 14.5ha of land in the province’s Giao Long Industrial Park for 50 years. In this phase, the Thai investor hopes to employ 5,000 workers and earn export revenues of US$40 million a year.
The remainder of US$10 million will be injected into the second phase.
According to the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association, Thai garment companies are planning to move their production bases to Vietnam to strengthen their export competitiveness in the American market if Thailand and the US cannot reach a free-trade agreement this year.
Thai firms would enjoy 20-30 per cent lower labor costs in Vietnam if they establish new production bases in this country, the association said, adding that Vietnam will soon become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is planning to form a free-trade agreement with the US. These moves will benefit Thai manufacturers opening production bases in Vietnam.
Vietnam Economic Times
Vietnamese
