Slower but cheap wins it for Cambodia's bra makers

Since taking up her factory job in Phnom Penh last month, Mom Sophea has been learning how to stitch sponge cups into bras using a sewing machine.

Sophea, 26, a Cambodian housewife previously a stranger to sewing, is now among the country's 300,000 skilled factory workers, who work eight hours a day, six days a week, for US$61 (HK$476) a month.

In the air-conditioned factory run by the lingerie exporter Top Form International, Sophea and 150 fellow labourers are racing against time to learn their new skills. The more they sew, the more they earn.

Each group of 30 is seated in a row under bright lights, working to meet the benchmark of producing a basic bra within 15 minutes. If they work fast enough, they can take home a monthly salary of US$120 on average.

'It was very difficult at the beginning to handle the sewing machine, but it is OK now,' she said. 'I want to make a better living.'

The Phnom Penh factory is Top Form's newest manufacturing facility outside Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces as fast-rising wages on the mainland eat into profits and Beijing's ambitions of a nationwide industrial upgrade discourages labour-intensive industries.

Thailand and Cambodia, relative latecomers to light industries, have now emerged as cost-effective options. Cambodia stipulates a minimum wage of US$61 (HK$476) a month, Thailand's minimum is 162 baht a day, equivalent to 3,888 baht (HK$964) a month. The monthly minimum pay on the mainland, which varies from region to region, is now above 1,000 yuan (HK$1,220) in western and central regions such as Anhui and Xinjiang .