The garment-textile sector expects to gross 35 billion USD in export turnover in 2018. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The garment-textile sector expects to gross 35billion USD in export turnover in 2018, higher than the target set at thebeginning of the year, thanks to a large number of orders from foreign partnersand bright prospects of the world and domestic economies.
Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS)Truong Van Cam said domestic businesses have received full orders for the thirdquarter of this year and are negotiating to secure long-term contracts through2019.
Many garment-textile firms in the southern economic hub of Ho Chi MinhCity revealed that they have received orders until the end of this year, evenfor the first months of 2019.
“Though the prices are likely to decline, thenumber of orders has been surging this year, especially with large-scaleenterprises”, Cam said.
According to Chairman of the HCM City Association of Garment, Textile,Embroidery and Knitting Pham Xuan Hong, there are numerous prospects for thegarment-textile sector this year thanks to a certain number of orders.
However, there remain challenges facing local businesses ahead,including fiercer competition from regional countries such as China, Myanmar andCambodia, he noted.
To realise the export goal, General Director of the Vietnam NationalTextile and Garment Group (Vinatex) Le Tien Truong said creating high-qualityproducts with reasonable prices and ensuring on time delivery are the mostfundamental solutions of the sector.
Vietnam’s garment-textile sector should not receive cheap orders insteadof reasonable prices that require high skills and techniques, he said.
The solution to this matter is making appropriate investment intechnologies to increase labour productivity not only through the skills ofworkers but also the production system, management and computerization inadministration and automation in each stage, he recommended.
Truong unveiled that most of importers make big orders in Vietnam, and theyhave only shifted small orders to other countries like Myanmar and Cambodia, asVietnamese firms are spending big on new technologies to increase productivityand competitiveness.
Furthermore, free trade agreements have helpedVietnam diversify its export markets and address the shortage of materials, hesaid.
From importing most of raw materials for production, the garment-textileindustry now exports more than 3 billion USD worth of yarn, nearly 1 billionUSD worth of fabric, and 400 million USD worth of garment accessories each year,Truong said.
Particularly, the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) haschanged the mindset of businesses in regards to technology investment, thegeneral director added.
Garment-textile companies have paid more attention to developing humanresources and using technology to create quality products by selecting highvalue production segments such as Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) and OwnBrand Manufacturing (OBM).
In 2017, the garment-textile sector raked in31.2 billion USD from exports, a year-on-year rise of 10.23 percent.
In the year, Vietnam’s garment-textile exports to major markets like theUS, the EU, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia increased by 7.2 percent,9.23 percent, 6.1 percent, 11.8 percent and 56 percent, respectively.-VNA
VNA
