Uniqlo owner to stop production in military-ruled Myanmar

Bangkok, Mar 30 (EFE).- Japan’s Fast Retailing, the owner of the Uniqlo fashion chain, will stop outsourced production in Myanmar, becoming the latest foreign company to quit over alleged human rights and labor concerns in the military-ruled country.

“The GU brand has produced a limited number of items in Myanmar in the past and the current manufacturing contract comes to a natural end with the fall/winter 2023 season,” a Fast Retailing spokesperson told Efe.

Although Fast Retailing did not outsource production of its best-known brand, Uniqlo, to Myanmar, it had done that for some GU brand garments.

Fast Retailing did not specify the reasons for exiting Myanmar.

But the Japanese newspaper Asia Nikkei said it was due to the human rights situation after the 2021 military coup and operational difficulties.

The textile giant has joined several foreign companies that have reduced or called off their operations in Myanmar after the coup.

The companies include the Swiss multinational Nestlé and the US oil company Chevron, which sold its stake in a natural gas project in February.

The coup d’état of Feb.1, 2021, has thrown Myanmar into deep political, social, and economic crises and has sparked a spiral of violence.

Since the coup, more than 3,000 civilians have been killed, and 17,000 remain in political detention, according to figures from Myanmar NGO Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. EFE

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