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Garment sales precursor to 2005 New World Order
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Posted on Sep 07 2004
With a month left in fiscal year 2004, the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association reported industry-wide sales in August 2004 of $67.2 million for a FY 2004 total to date of $746.7 million in exports to its U.S. mainland buyers and retailers.
SGMA spokesperson Richard A. Pierce announced that an industry overview and future report will be presented at the October Saipan Chamber of Commerce monthly general membership meeting on October 6, 2004.
Saipan apparel sales dropped from the previous month (July 04) by 16 percent, but the yearly totals to date are still up for the first 11 months of FY 2004 by 2.8 percent.
Factory sales were highest in FY 1999 at $1.06 billion. Sales dropped to $1.04 billion in 2000, further dropping in 2001 to $965 million, $821 million in 2002, and $795 million in 2003.
User fees to the CNMI dropped accordingly as follows: $39.2 million in 1999; $38.5 million in 2000; $35.7 million in 2001; $30.4 million in 2002; and $29.4 million in 2003.
Pierce stated, “The halcyon days have been over for a long time now. Almost every bit of the drops in sales and tax payments can be attributed to the selling price reductions our local factories had to make to meet buyers’ and retailers’ demands to get orders for their Saipan factories.”
Sales in FY 2004 are expected to reach slightly over $800 million, with user fee payments totaling close to $30 million to the CNMI Government. SGMA reported that other taxes and fees paid in 2004, such as excise tax, business gross receipts tax, income and payroll taxes, beautification taxes, CHC, CUC, Ports Authority, DOL, Immigration and other fees will approximate an additional $40 million.
“We are only about 100 days away from when China, India, Malaysia and other low-production cost areas around the world no longer having to get valuable quota allotments for shipment to the U.S. marketplace,” Pierce commented.
SGMA is comprised of 25 of Saipan’s 27 licensed apparel manufacturers. The industry accounts for nearly 16,000 jobs in the factories and yields a third of the CNMI budget income.
