Viet Nam News
HA NOI — Enterprises in the textile and garment sector are facing a decline in export value and a lack of orders in March.
The General Statistics Office said the total value of textile and garment exports was estimated to reach US$550 million in February, lower than January’s $722 million.
However, the total value increased to $1.27 billion in the first two months of the year, a 0.7 per cent increase over last year.
The Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) said Viet Nam’s textile and garment sector would have difficulties in exporting its products this year because orders for Vietnamese textiles and garments had declined sharply from last year in key markets, including the US and European Union.
Seventy per cent of the country’s textile and garment exporters have had orders to produce till the end of this month and they have to wait for orders for future months, accoding to the association. Volumes for these orders have fallen 30-50 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Many exporters have had to cut their prices 10 per cent under pressure from importers.
Due to the business climate, the Prime Minister has agreed to delay inspections of the equitisation process at some member enterprises of the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), the largest producer and exporter of textile and garment products in the country. The state wants the group to focus on enhancing production, business and exports during the current difficult period.
The group is one of the five large economic groups where the State Inspection Office is supposed to carry out inspections of the equitisation.
Exploring new markets
At present, Vitas is giving priority to expanding and promoting trade in new export markets, including Africa, the Middle-East and Russia.
A trade fair for export goods to Russia in September will help Vietnamese textile and garment exporters to increase their share in the market.
Viet Nam expects to increase its export value to Russia to $1 billion this year from $700 million last year. However, the industry must overcome obstacles like Russia’s high import taxes.
The HCM City Association of Garment, Textile, Embroidery and Knitting said, Uniqlo, a leading Japanese textile and garment importer and distributor, will send a mission to study 50 export textile and garment enterprises in the city.
The association expects that the visit will increase opportunities to export textile and garment products to Japan due to the preferential zero import tax for Vietnamese products under the Viet Nam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA).
In the first two months of the year, textile and garment orders from Japan increased while orders from the US and EU markets declined.
Last year, the value of Vietnamese textile and garment exports to Japan reached $820 million, 16 per cent higher than 2014. That value is expected to increase 20 per cent this year compared with last year. — VNS
