Taiwan Garment Makers Score Record Profits in 2013

Thanks to increasing orders from major clients, Makalot Industrial Co., Ltd., Taiwan's leading garment maker, raked in combined revenues of NT$17.91 billion (US$597 million) in 2013, up 12.9% from the year before, and saw profits jump 13.9% to a record NT$1.637 billion (US$54.57 million). Earnings per share (EPS) for the year hit NT$9.79 (US$0.33).

In December alone the company shipped 780,000 dozen garments, much higher than the annual shipments of 670,000 dozen or so in the past several years, and generated profits of NT$125 million (US$4.17 million), a December record.

Last year Makalot's three major clients--Kohl's, Target, and GAP--all placed more orders than the previous year, and new clients in Japan and Spain also increased their orders. This boosted Makalot's 2013 shipments to 10.51 million dozen, compared with 9.3 million dozen in 2012.

To meet the rising demand, the company has decided to launch US$2.27 million (about NT$68.31 million) project to expand its ‘Demark' plant in Indonesia, which now can generate about 300,000 dozen garments a year. With the completion of the project, the plant's output is expected to reach 500,000 dozen garments in 2015, 600,000 dozen in 2016, and 640,000 dozen in 2017.

Another leading Taiwanese garment maker, Eclat Textile Co., Ltd. is planning to spend US$9 million on the purchase of a new plant in Vietnam to expand its production capacity there. The new plant will have 17 production lines and is expected to start running in the third quarter of this year, boosting the company's monthly garment output to 6.65 million dozen.

Eclat is also enlarging the operations of its existing two plants in Vietnam. The expansion is slated for completion in the second quarter of the year, giving the two plants a total of 76 production lines and increasing their monthly output by 1.5 million dozen.

The company currently operates plants in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Cambodia with a combined production of 4.4 million dozen garments a month. It intends to add 30 new production lines to its operation in Cambodia, in a project that is scheduled for completion in May and will boost monthly output there by 450,000 dozen, to 650,000 dozen.

In the first three quarters of this year, Eclat chalked up after-tax profits of NT$1.949 billion (US$64.97 million). This represented a whopping increase of 62% on an annual basis, and exceeded the company's NT$1.791 billion (US$59.7 million) in profit for all of 2012. (JL)