Image source: Vogue Business
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to eliminate a range of tariffs on imports and include provisions on intellectual property, telecommunications, financial services, e-commerce and professional services among 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Dr Di Fan, Assistant Professor of ITC, was interviewed by Vogue Business on the implications for the fashion and textile industries.
Dr Fan stated that, “The lowering of non-tariff barriers, such as custom clearance, is expected to reduce the time products spend in transit, making garments from RCEP members competitive from a time-to-market perspective too."
"The shorter days of supply can bring tremendous advantages to the fashion firms in the region. If a fast fashion brand needs 14 days to put a design on the shelf, a saving of four days in custom clearance can boost the speed to the market by around 30 per cent.” He added.
China is the largest textiles exporter, the reduced tariff will increase the price competitiveness of Chinese textile products in the region, alleviating the raise of labor cost pressure for Chinese textile producers. "The agreement will also accelerate the shift of lower value production from China to ASEAN countries, which aligns with Chinese government efforts to pivot to higher value-added manufacturing sectors. It will also allow the country to boost domestic consumption through leveraging overseas production capacity." Dr Fan explained.
For the full story, please visit https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/what-rcep-means-for-fashion
