Textile and garment manufacturer Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻) yesterday said it expects sales this quarter to grow annually and that its performance in the second half of the year would outperform the first half, driven by rising orders from major customers.
“Sales from Nike have contributed between 13 and 15 percent of our total sales so far this year, which might grow annually this year and next,” chief financial officer and vice president Roger Lo (羅仁傑) said on the sidelines of the Taipei Innovative Textile Application Show in Taipei.
As global brands such as Nike, Under Armour and Adidas continue to reduce the number of suppliers to lower labor and management costs, Eclat is likely to gain more orders and a higher market share, the company said.
The company has also benefited from diverted orders amid the US-China trade dispute, as evidenced by the rising output from its Vietnamese and Cambodian plants, it said.
Aside from clear order visibility through June next year, Eclat is expected to add three to five new clients next year, it said, adding that sales growth should accelerate next year.
Eclat last month said it would invest US$170 million to set up a production base in Indonesia.
The plant is expected to produce 1 million pieces of apparel in the first quarter of 2021, Lo said yesterday.
The new plant would produce 2.5 million to 3 million pieces of apparel and 1 million kilograms of woven materials per month in 2022, he added.
Ready-to-wear apparel and functional clothing manufacturer Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽實業) also expects sales to grow next year, although clients have become more conservative this quarter, chairman Frank Chou (周理平) said yesterday.
“The market might be tricky next year, as clients, especially from the US, have been slow in placing orders ahead of the results of trade negotiations between the US and China,” Chou said.
Makalot still expects sales in the first half of next year to grow after adding four to six new clients and the launch of new athleisure clothing, Chou said.
The company’s total capacity is expected to increase by 10 percent following the completion of two new plants in Indonesia next year, it said.
In Vietnam, the company has adjusted its manufacturing capacity after a fire affected two of its plants in Hai Duong Province in July, with the overall utilization rate in Vietnam recovering to between 85 and 90 percent last month, it said.
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