European and Asian countries are increasingly placing orders for Myanmar garments. In 2015, export earnings from garments accounted for 10 per cent of the nation’s total export value. Exports of garments to the EU increased 80 per cent.

The number of garment factories increased in recent years to over 400. In 2016, the garment sector employed up to 3, 50,000 workers, about 90 per cent of them women. Foreign direct investment in Myanmar’s garment industry has been significant. As of mid-2015, about 55 per cent of registered garment firms in the country were fully or partly foreign-owned. Among them, a quarter came from China, 17 per cent from Hong Kong, 29 per cent from South Korea and 12 per cent from Japan.

Foreign-linked firms supply almost all garment exports and these have surged in recent years. The lifting of EU and American sanctions has helped further boost export growth. Currently, Japan and European countries are placing the largest orders for garment shipments. Additionally garment exports also go to South Korea, China and America.

Myanmar’s garment industry is focused on cutting, making and packing, which is a basic contract garment assembly system that allows international garment companies to reduce their labor costs.