The Ministry of Industry and Trade reportedon June 1 that in the first five months of this year, the textile andgarment industry produced 118.2 million sq.m. of natural fibre (ayear-on-year increase of 2.3 percent), 287.1 million sq.m. of syntheticand artificial fibre (a year-on-year surge of 1.8 percent), and 1.21billion units of cloths (a year-on-year surge of 2.3 percent).
Duringthe first five months, the industry gained a year-on-year increase of8.4 percent in export value to 8.11 billion USD, including 1.65 billionUSD recorded in May.
The export orders of textile and garmententerprises remained positive in the second quarter, with 62 percent oftotal enterprises producing cloths marking an increase in export ordersagainst the first quarter, the ministry noted.
The VietnamTextile and Apparel Association said from early this year until now,foreign investors had been promoting investments in the textile andgarment sector in Vietnam to exploit the business opportunities thathave emerged following free trade agreements such as the TPP, Vietnam-EUFTA, and Vietnam-Republic of Korea FTA. According to the FTAs,Vietnam's textile and garment sector will gain the most from many tarifflines reducing to zero.
The ministry pointed out that theleather and footwear industries also achieved a year-on-year increase of24.8 percent in output to 130.7 million pairs of footwear and of 19.5percent rise in the export value of footwear to 4.6 million USD.
TheGeneral Statistics Office reported that some 55.7 percent of footwearenterprises recorded a surge in export orders for the second quarter.
Accordingto the ministry, garment and footwear are two of the sectors that areexpected to receive many advantages from the FTA in the future.-VNA