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Honduras: Chinese clothes

Monday, November 19, 2012


Honduras is now the world’s sixth-largest apparel exporter, thanks in part to new investments by Chinese companies, who want to ship their products to the United States.

Honduras in the past year moved ahead of India, in an international ranking of clothing exporters, according to fibre2fashion.com.

One of the advantages of Honduran production is competitive wages, as labor costs continue to go up in China.

Exports of clothing from Honduras enter the United States duty-free, under the terms of the Central America Free Trade Agreement.

Duties ranging from 10% to 40% generally apply, in the case of clothing exports from countries which do not have a trade deal with the United States.

A Honduran manufacturing operation in addition lets producers respond quickly to client needs.

Shipping between Honduras and the United States takes 48 hours, compared to a week in the case of China.

Nicaragua, Honduras’ main competitor for basic manufacturing plants, could likewise expect to see Chinese investment in the clothing and footwear sectors.