Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Talking to the Newspaper of Industry and Trade,Giang attributed his optimism to the shifting of major orders from othercountries to Vietnam, the recovery of the US market - one of Vietnam’s largest,and the activeness of Vietnamese businesses in applying technologies and takingadvantage of opportunities brought about by new-generation free tradeagreements (FTAs).
Vietnam’s garment and textile exports werevalued at nearly 9 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, up 6 percentyear-on-year.
The figure, he said, shows that consumption isbouncing back, which positively affects export activities.
Garment and textile enterprises have beenadaptive to market fluctuations through measures to diversify products andmarkets and invest in automated technologies and equipment.
New-generation FTAs have also added to theiradvantages. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP), for example, has made Vietnamese garment and textileproducts available in selective markets such as Canada, New Zealand, andAustralia, Giang said.
However, he also pointed to several challengesfacing the sector, including a shortage of materials and workers and highlogistics costs, especially the cost of leasing empty containers rising morethan five-fold compared to last year.
A lack of capital at small and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) for investing in high technology and an imbalance in the productionstructure are also challenges to the sector, he added./.
VNA
