GARMENT workers, including management, are upgrading their skills in order to improve their penetration of foreign markets.

Japanese technical experts from the Association for Overseas Technology Scholarship will provide the training, in cooperation with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers’ Association (MGMA).

Factory owners, managers and supervisors will be the first to receive the training, which will focus on quality production, said U Myint Soe, president of MGMA.

Since a third of Myanmar’s garment exports go to Japan, the Japanese experts will train the garment workers how to maintain the quality standards expected by their Japanese customers.

“The Japanese market is very sensitive in terms of quality when it comes to ordering garments from abroad. Even though Japan is a big market for Myanmar manufacturers, it is not so easy to enter the Japanese market because of quality consciousness,” Mr Eitaro Kojima, managing director of Yangon-based JETRO told The Myanmar Times.

“We need to enhance the skills of our workers for higher productivity because 35 percent of our total garment exports go there,” U Myint Soe said.

“If Myanmar wants to export more garments to Japan, it’s very important to get the quality right,” said Mr Kojima.

Myanmar labour costs in the garment industry are low compared to those in China, Bangladesh and Cambodia and Vietnam, who can earn up to two or three times as much as their Myanmar counterparts, said U Myint Soe.

The industry needs to improve productivity and quality in order to save manufacturing time and costs, to earn more profits, to be more flexible for orders and to attract buyers, Mr Kojima said.

In order to enhance capacity-building in the garment industry, a eight-member expert delegation from Japan visited Myanmar last year to analyse the industry and hold discussions with local manufacturers.

The training will take two or three years and could be extended to as many as 65,000-85,000 workers. More than 70 garment manufacturers out of 120 factories throughout the country are involved in the training.

Prior to 2003, more than 400 garment factories were operating in the black with a total workforce of 350,000 employees.