Vietnam operations of footwear giant Pou Chen hit by COVID-19 curbs
14/07/2021 06:20
HANOI, July 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Pou Chen Corp 9904.TW ,
the world's largest manufacturer of branded athletic and casual
footwear, suspended on Wednesday operations at its plant in Ho
Chi Minh City as COVID-19 curbs hit factories in the country's
business hub.
Production at its Pouyuen Vietnam business in Ho Chi Minh
City, the epicentre of the country's worst coronavirus outbreak,
will be suspended for 10 days, the health ministry said in a
statement.
After successfully containing the disease for much of the
pandemic, Vietnam has faced a more stubborn outbreak since late
April, with daily infections climbing to record levels.
Companies in Vietnam's business hub and its neighbouring
industrial provinces have been struggling to keep running, after
strict movement curbs were imposed across much of the area.
Pouyuen Vietnam, the largest employer in the city with
56,000 workers, could not arrange for its workers to sleep at
the site as required by authorities to allow the business to
remain open, the ministry said.
Pou Chen, which manufactures footwear for companies such as
Nike NKE.N and Adidas ADSGn.DE , did not immediately respond
to an email seeking comment.
In April last year, Pouyuen Vietnam was also ordered to
suspend its production for two days after failing to meet local
rules on social distancing. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2C11TR
Earlier this week, state media said city authorities also
ordered 29 companies in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, an
industrial park, to suspend production due to the outbreak.
At the neighbouring Saigon Hi-Tech Park, which houses
international companies, more than 700 infections had been
detected in recent days, state media reported.
City authorities had ordered companies to shut units with
infected workers, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
"The highest objective at the moment is to contain the
outbreak," the paper cited the vice chairwoman of the park's
management board Le Bich Loan as saying.
In May, the outbreak also forced companies in the northern
industrial provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang to scale down
production, including Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and
Foxconn 2317.TW . urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2N80QN
Despite the latest outbreak, Vietnam has recorded far lower
caseloads that many other countries with 35,409 infections in
total and 130 deaths.
(Editing by Ed Davies)