Batu Pahat textile and garment industry has potential and capability to reclaim its past glory amidst dismal days, believes Tan Teng San, Vice-President of Malaysian Knitting Manufacturers' Association (MKMA).
In its heydays during 1998, MKMA represented 1,500 factories, many of them based in Batu Pahat. These factories include both high-end spinning factories and downstream apparel manufacturers.
This was a time when industry held third position as country's top foreign exchange earner for the country. But last year, exports dropped to RM9.7 billion, and so did the position of country.
Cheap imports from low-cost production centres like China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and even Africa affects Malaysian knitting industry, said Tan.
Tan hoped local manufacturers could beat international players as Malaysia has a repute in world markets for production quality, timely delivery and skilled workforce.
He also added that the industry should capture middle to high-end markets and niche products for medical fabrics like 'quick dry microfibre', 'anti- bacterial' materials and 'flame retardant' pillow cases.
As these products could be obtained locally, importers from US and Europe would be keen to place orders with us, he informed.
But Tan feared that shifting to high-end products would be difficult, as they would demand more capital and loan facilities, which were hard to come by.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
