Saipan turns to shoes
By Associated Press
KPUA.net
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) _ With its once-thriving garment industry declining, Saipan’s governor says the Northern Mariana Islands is turning to shoes.
Governor Benigno Fitial has announced the world’s largest shoemaker plans to open a factory in the U-S commonwealth that once hosted many more garment factories than it does now.
Fitial says Hong Kong-based Yue Yuen is moving ahead with plans for a Saipan factory. It says the company is expected to hire local workers and to pay them more than the territory’s minimum hourly wage of three dollars and five cents.
Garment orders for Saipan factories have declined and several factories have closed in recent months due to stiff competition from factories in developing countries offering even cheaper labor costs.
More garments are now being exported to the United States from other countries under World Trade Organization trade liberalization.
(Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
