According to Alice Baey, global purchasing director of French retailerCasino Group, operator of the Big C supermarket chain in Vietnam,although Chinese and Bangladeshi garment products hold large marketshares in France, Vietnamese garment manufacturers have manyopportunities to increase market share as French importers are keen todiversify their supply sources.
Baey said that Frenchimporters are looking to Vietnam because they don’t want to depend toomuch on supplies from China and Bangladesh.
The Frenchtextile and garment market is full of challenges but strong growth isstill seen in the fashion segment for young people, she said.
Vietnamese suppliers should pay attention to the diversity of types andpatterns to get a firm foothold in France, one of the world’s leadingfashion countries, she added.
Jo Bueters, a technicaladvisor from Casino Group, said France and the EU want to diversifysupply markets and on-time delivery is a prerequisite condition whenexporting to these markets.
Vietnamese garment producers shouldtake advantage of access to skilled workers to make high-grade productsfor the EU, she suggested.
According toparticipants at the seminar, the EU is now the second-largest buyer ofVietnamese garment products. However, Vietnam’s garment exports to eachEU country, especially France, remain modest.
At present, France has a demand to import 6.5 billion USD worth of garment products each year.
Despite enjoying a growth of over 38 percent against 2010, Vietnam’sgarment exports to France only reached 202 million USD in 2011, makingFrance the 11th among Vietnamese garment’s export markets.
France’s garment imports from Vietnam are only equivalent to one halfor one third of those of other EU countries like Germany, the UK andSpain./.