Garment makers hit record sales


Nhan Dan, Vietnam
Vietnam earned around US$930 million from garment exports in July, bringing export turnover of the commodity in the first seven months of the year to a record US$5.1 billion, up 20.5% year on year.

Le Quoc An, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, (Vitas), said: “This time (from July to September) is regarded as “the harvest time’ for the apparel sector. Based on impressive figures in July and the positive outlook for the next two months, it is possible for the industry to reap US$9.5 billion in export revenue by the end of the year, as set earlier.”

However, he said the industry would have to cope with a number of difficulties, such as high inflation, high interest rates on commercial loans, strikes and resignations, among other factors.

In addition, he said the sector was overly dependent on major markets such as the US (holding 55% of market share), the EU (17%) and Japan (8%), and therefore it was vulnerable to unexpected market volatility.

To offset the risk, industry experts recommend that exporters should look to other markets such as the Middle East and South Africa.

Vitas also advised garment makers not to ignore regional markets such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. (VNA)

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