Hard work for garment industry to meet export target

According to Truong, the industry anticipates its export growth rate at just 5-7 percent this year if there are no appropriate policies.
The industry’s export revenue increased only 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of the year to $23.3 billion, according to Vinatex. The industry therefore will need to hit an average of $2.5 billion a month in the last two months of the year in order to reach this year’s export target of $28-$29 billion.

Textile and garment export revenue will need to hit an average of $2.5 billion a month in the last two months of the year in order to reach this year’s target of $28-$29 billion.

Meanwhile, with an undeveloped supply chain and relatively lower value-addition, the Vietnamese garment sector is facing stiffer competition in the world market from China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Cambodia, experts have said.
According to the experts, in addition to advantages and potential, the weakest point of the domestic garment industry is an undeveloped supply chain, resulting in a lower added value compared to other countries around the world.
The value addition of the garment industry is not high as domestic businesses also mainly handle work outsourced by foreign firms.
Pham Xuan Hong, chair of the HCM City Association of Garment Textile Embroidery-Knitting (Agtek), pointed out the challenges for the industry in the near future, including greater competition from regional countries like China, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
To overcome barriers and compete successfully, Hong said domestic businesses must prove workers’ skills and renovate management methods to optimize production and improve efficiency.
He forecast that the garment sector will thrive next year if strategies are implemented effectively to put the industry on the right track. Particularly, businesses are researching new trading methods, which will help create more value addition.
To iron out the snags and increase added values of export garment products, the government and other relevant ministries and departments have gradually removed hurdles and issued policies to develop the support industry, contributing to the development of the supply chain in the garment sector.
Experts also proposed measures such as fully exploiting the domestic market of more than 90 million people, and maintaining and developing key markets such as the US, EU, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, as well as other markets like ASEAN, Eurasian Economic Union, India, and Latin America.
Other proper policies should be devised to attract foreign investment in fiber production, weaving, and dying, and mobilizing sources to develop smart garment and textile plants, they said.