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| Issue date:10/08/2010 |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
| Staff reporter |
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| Mirae Fiber's office in Binh Duong |
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| Chris Kim |
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Mirae Fiber Vietnam is a Korean-invested firm in Vietnam established in the early 2000s. This company is merger of Mirae Fiber Hung Yen in Northern province of Hung Yen and Mirae JSC in Southern province of Binh Duong; both are subsidies of Seoul-headquartered Mirae Fiber Technology Co Ltd. Mirae Fiber Vietnam is now listed on Ho Chi Minh city Stock Exchange and plans to list on Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (KOSDAQ) by the end of 2010.
Vietnam has welcomed a strong investment flow from Korea for Vietnam's skilled and low-cost labor as well as a big market of an 86 million population. Korea was the second largest investor in Vietnam’s apparel sector with US$737 million in 2008, after only China. Among the investment fields, the textile and apparel industry is a major for the Korean investor in the country due to the country's recent well developed textile and apparel production.
The company specialises in man-made fiber (100% polyester) such as padding, quilting, bonding, ball fiber and micro fiber for textile & apparel that are processed with the raw fiber mainly imported from Korea. Main customers include World Best, Global MGP, Habitex, Beeahn, Hanil and Everpia Vietnam, as well as indirect customers such as international apparel retailers including Gap, Adidas, Nautica and Umbro, the company says.
Chris Kim, Finance Manager of Mirae Fiber Vietnam Company, recently talked to ATA Journal.
ATA： AdsaleATA.com
Kim：Chris Kim
ATA：Why did Mirae Fiber choose Vietnam for investment?
Kim：Now in Korea, a lot of companies invest in Vietnam, because Vietnamese labor quality is good, cheap (low labor cost), and also Vietnam is the one of the rising development nation. It explained why Mirae Fiber chose Vietnam for the new opportunity.
Mirae Fiber Technology in Korea plays role for not only searching the new Korean customers and making sample delivery (sending samples to potential customers) and connecting the customers to Mirae JSC in Vietnam, the two companies also share supplier information of fiber and resin (raw material). These are some synergies between them.
ATA：How was Mirae Fiber Vietnam Company affected by the global economic downturn?
Kim：In 2008 and 2009, the global economic crisis affected all over the world, and some of our buyers decreased the order. However, the 2009 winter was very cold, and we expect more orders in 2010.
The demand of our products is climate-sensitive, especially the padding for winter jackets. When the weather is cold, our products will tend to be more popular among buyers.
With regard to the economic environment, Mirae JSC has merged with Mirae Fiber JSC last December. After the integration, we can unit the procurement power of the both companies and purchase our materials at the same time, so as to save the material cost. We also share the systems of the two to save the overhead cost. We also provide training to educate our workers and staff in order to have a better control of the quality.
ATA：In such a difficult time, how do you keep clients' loyalty?
Kim：For overseas clients, we have been working with them for many years, and they are satisfied with our quality and service. If they encounter any matter with our products, such as quilting products, we directly go to our client's factory to check our products. The most important thing is speed. When our customers have any problem (with our products), we clear it immediately.
With our domestic customers, who are mainly dealers of our bedding products, we offer incentives if their sales to end-users are good. We also keep an open dialogue with them. That's the reason our clients (both dealers and end-users) like our company.
ATA：Could you tell us the technology and machinery used in Mirae Fiber Vietnam?
Kim： Our technology is from Korea and our technicians have rich experience. In addition, some machinery (spinning, quilting and padding machines) were imported from Japan and Korea.
We also emphasise product innovation. Our design team takes care of product development and makes sure new products are of a good quality standard. Further quality assurance is done with our quality control team, which monitors the product quality and spot out if any defect arises.
We have just started the machinery business serving the textile industry in Vietnam, including the nonwoven fiber, mattress and padding machines. Vietnam is a young country, and machinery (trading) business can be a blue ocean here.
Regarding the challenges, now a major challenge of ours is the hikes of world oil prices, which drives up our material cost. If the synthetic fiber price keeps increasing, the price of the jacket will have to rise as the material cost has a big impact.
ATA：Do you think Vietnam will be able to keep its competitiveness in the global textile supply chain?
Kim：In my opinion, Vietnam is a growth country…Rising wages affect companies all over Vietnam. I think wages and other costs will increase to some extent, but it's not serious in Vietnam.
I think Vietnam will keep its competitive power, and the Vietnamese government will invest more in the sector of textiles. China will lose some of its cost advantages, so I think Vietnam will be able to maintain its competitiveness in the global textile supply chain.
ATA： Many thanks.
Korean investment in Vietnam’s textile and apparel sector |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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