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Flood-ravaged Southeast Asia still producing goods for export

WASHINGTON, DC - 01/10/05 - The movement of goods from Southeast Asia to the US - everything from computer peripherals and home furnishings to apparel and electronics - has continued to flow mainly because the region's busiest manufacturing centers were largely undamaged by the ravaging earthquake-induced tsunami that struck the region the day after Christmas. 

According to the recent press accounts, the region's major ports - Colombo, Port Klang, Jakarta, and Madras, in particular - are now operating normally despite several having initially reported damage to infrastructure including terminal facilities and administrative buildings. 

But, at least one economist has said that a breakout of diseases such as typhoid, malaria, and dysentery in the region could further strain the region's already devastated economies and may affect export output in the medium and long-term, and, while the disaster is expected to have minimal affect on the US economy, Southeast Asia's huge tourism industry - the region's largest revenue generator - has already been heavily impacted by the tragedy.

Many retailers in the US rely on factories in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand, and other countries in Southeast Asia to produce apparel, consumer electronics, and wood furniture, while hundreds of US-based manufacturers rely heavily on the electronics components, after-market auto parts, and computer peripherals churned out of the region's production centers.
 
However, big manufacturing centers were not impacted by the tsunamis.

Rick Darling, president of Li & Fung USA, a Hong Kong-based firm that finds Asian suppliers for US companies, told the Associated Press that, "We have not seen any disruption whatsoever to manufacturers in those countries."

US retailers Kohl's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and American Eagle Outfitters are among the company's clients. 

According to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Washington, DC, ports in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, as well as Singapore are operating normally, while some cargo, mainly regional, is being diverted from the Indian port of Chennai to other ports in the region.

Dan Hess, founder and chief executive officer of Merchant Forecast LLC, a New York-based research firm serving the retail sector, told the news service that he was not aware of any major disruptions of raw materials from Asia to US companies.
 
The impact of the disaster on the US economy "should be fairly limited," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Banc of America Capital Management. "The spread of disease is a primary risk at this point. Countries' economies could see more prolonged damage and a drain on their resources to care for the ill."

Indonesia and perhaps other countries in the region could see depressed economic activity in the current January-to-March quarter, she said. But, she added that economic activity "also may get a lift from efforts to rebuild roads, bridges, hotels and homes."

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