A domestic garment manufacturer in Thailand urged the Thailand government to reduce income tax on overseas investment, which also helps garment manufacturers to improve their labor efficiency.

Thailand Garment Manufacturers Association (TGMA) said that these measures will lighten the burden of garment manufacturers after the minimum daily wage rises in April 1, 2012.

After the minimum wage rises, the garment enterprises will have to pay 300 baht minimum wages per worker.

Vallop Vitanakorn, a consultant at the Thailand clothing manufacturers association (TGMA), said raising the minimum wage is a concern for small businesses, because raising wages makes them more vulnerable to competition with other garment manufacturers, such as Kampuchea, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

However, some large garment enterprises have built production bases in neighboring countries, such as Kampuchea, Vietnam and Laos, so they have skipped the burden of increasing costs because of higher wages.

Mr. Vallop said that the current global market situation is not conducive to garment manufacturers, because the economic crisis and fierce competition will not allow them to raise their prices.

As a result of a year-on-year decline of 19%, Thailand clothing textiles fell to 544 million US dollars in January, mainly due to the decline in cotton prices.

Mr. Vallop said foreign clothing exports this year were expected to exceed US $3 billion 200 million last year, as production costs rose.

He added that the Thailand Garment Manufacturers Association (TGMA) will help domestic garment manufacturers to improve efficiency so that they can maintain export volume.