Youngone making massive investment in man-made fibre

Image: Collected
Youngone Corporation, a worldwide conglomerate based in Korea, has built large investments in man-built fibre (MMF) for apparel in its factories in Bangladesh as artificial materials are now dominating the style industry, according to Kihak Sung, chairman and ceo of the company.

Youngone, well-known for its outerwear and MMF items, recently started making polyester fabrics at three factories covering 40,000 sq . metres each at the Korean Export Processing Area (KEPZ) in Chattogram.

Besides, Japanese engineers might install lots of new machinery at one of the factories soon, Sung told The Daily Star in a recent interview.

Sung decided to spend money on MMF products because of their rising demand in the international market.


Currently, 95 % of all fibres produced simply by the business is MMF that is employed by its factories and other local manufacturers for a number of apparel items.

So far, $65 million has been invested in the three factories while another $120 million will be invested to use five in total.

Being the major foreign investor in Bangladesh's garment industry, Youngone plans to get $1 billion over another few years according to the country's situation.

However, Sung didn't mention any particular timeframe for the investment.

Youngone has recently invested around $600 million in Bangladesh, Sung said.

The company is also investing in a solar powered energy development project in an effort to bring 40 MW capacity of clean energy to the KEPZ.

Once complete, it will be the world's major rooftop solar power project.

But like others, Youngone was likewise badly damaged by the Covid-19 fallout.

The company lost about 45 per cent of its yearly export revenue because of order cancellations and was forced to prevent production for nearly nine weeks amid all the economic uncertainty.

After numerous negotiations, the rate of cancellation was reduced to 15 per cent. On the other hand, the company's Vietnam operations continued to perform smoothly.

Sung, who started his organization in 1974 and setup a garment factory with just 450-500 employees in South Korea in 1976, is doing business on Bangladesh since 1980, when he setup a factory in Agrabad in Chattogram.

"So this year may be the 41st year to do business found in Bangladesh, which is usually my second home and the country is normally deeply ingrained in my heart and soul," Sung told The Daily Superstar at his Gulshan home during a short go to to Dhaka.

Although, he cannot remember what his initial expense was back in 1980, he did say that exports were short of $100 million when his recently built factory at the Chattogram Export Processing Area (CEPZ) was inundated simply by a massive flood, cyclone and tidal bore in April, 1991.

His single-storied factory construction was inundated in the cyclone and a lot more than 300,000 bits of garment items designed for Nike and Marks & Spencer were totally damaged.

It was that point when Sung could have left the country because of the irrevocable losses.

Nevertheless, he was moved by his personnel and decided against pulling out of Bangladesh.

Without having to be told to, his personnel cleaned the damaged garment items hoping that they could be exported and it had been this hope that guided Sung's decision.

"It moved me quite definitely so in retrospect we elected to stay in this country. We then built a multi-storied building above the flood level after I raised funds from the Korean currency markets to manage the difficult finances," Sung said.

Now, the company's twelve-monthly revenue is approximately $2.5 billion and Sung aspires to improve it considerably.

For this reason he has been heavily investing in innovative textile and garment production.

Currently, Youngone features business operations, specifically textile and garment, in Bangladesh, the US, Vietnam, Korea, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, El Salvador and Switzerland.

Sung cannot immediately say just how many factories are under his company but did say that there are five sets of companies found in Bangladesh that have more than 60,000 employees combined.

The business's biggest offshore businesses are in Bangladesh though and Sung has been producing the KEPZ Corporation to invest more progressively in the united states.

Youngone is the key supplier of straight down jackets-a soft but very warm outerwear created from MMF and true feathers-in Korea in fact it is also the main provider of The North Experience products globally.

The retention value of quality down jackets in Bangladesh is more than 75 per cent and Youngone is the key producer of the special kind of jacket for cold climates. The merchandise is largely made in Bangladesh.

Sung went on to say that Bangladesh's graduation from a good least developed nation (LDC) to a developing an individual will erode its trade competitiveness by more than 10 % on exports to EU marketplaces.

Bangladeshi companies need to improve their productivity by at least 50 per cent as well as keep your charges down and lead period to compete in the international market prior to the country loses its trade benefits.

Bangladesh should work with Vietnam as a good benchmark for how simple business businesses in a region should go, he added.

For instance, even a few years ago, there have been 7,000 Korean businesses, mainly textile and garments related, in Shandong province of China but most of those factories were relocated to Vietnam as it offered good business conditions and administrative support.

Bangladesh can study from Vietnam about how to attract even more foreign direct expenditure, said Sung, who as well served seeing as chairman of the Korea Federation of Textile Sectors (KOFOTI) and president of the International Textile Producers Federation (ITMF), the world's oldest textile organisation based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Sung said he started his organization at age of 27 following the completion of his graduation from Seoul National University and serving found in Korean army.

The company thought we would come to Bangladesh in the 80's mainly to export locally produced outwear to Sweden to take pleasure from the country's quota free benefits.

That year, three Korean companies invested beyond Korea. One visited Sri Lanka, another to Honduras and Youngone in Bangladesh.

Of the three, only Youngone is still doing business as the others have turn off entirely. Sung recalled how one of is own feminine staffers joined in 1977, who is now functioning at his Vietnam factory.

About the surge of the garment industry and performance of Bangladesh's economy, Sung said he has witnessed impressive development in the sector.

Although some foreign investors have left Bangladesh, Sung believes that this country has enough potential to grow even more. 

He said Noorul Quader, owner of Desh Garments, is a major name in the local industry as he sent many executives to Korea for training.

After an extended career as a businessman, Sung decided to place the responsibility of leading the company on the shoulders of his daughter Rae Eun Sung.

His child has been functioning as the top of businesses in Youngone Company and is president and ceo of Youngone Holdings.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net

Tags :

Share this news on:

Previous Story

Trending Topics

Archive