The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) reports the textile and leather & footwear sectors achieved impressive growth in April buoyed up by numerous export contracts.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) reports the textile and leather & footwear sectors achieved impressive growth in April buoyed up by numerous export contracts.
Impressive growth for textiles
MoIT statistics show that garment and textile export earnings reached over US$5.9 billion by the end of April, up 20% compared to the same period last year.
Le Tien Truong, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (VINATEX), says the sectors’ strong growth was projected at the beginning of this year due to large numbers of orders. Many businesses are currently operating at full capacity to meet orders till the end of the third quarter, even late this year.
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The textile sector is working hard to ensure shipments to Vietnam’s traditional markets such as the EU, the Republic of Korea, Japan and the US.
The 24th International Fair on Garments and Textiles Equipment and Accessories (Saigon Tex 2014), the largest of its kind, was held in HCM City in early April, providing an excellent opportunity for local enterprises to get access to the latest technology, so as to increase localisation rate and improve value-added products.
Recently, the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), Foshan Sanshui Jialida Company (China) and Luenthai Company (Hong Kong, China) worked with Nam Dinh province to establish Rang Dong textile industrial park.
The goal of the project is to develop a textile supply chain from spinning, knitting, dyeing, printing and finishing. As planned, the project, covering an area of 1,400 -1,500 hectares, will generate approximately 200,000-300,000 jobs. It is a large project in terms of scale and investment capital, to turn Nam Dinh into one of the biggest textile centres in the country.
Acknowledging the textile sector’s achievements, MoIT Deputy Minister Le Duong Quang notes the sector will enjoy many advantages when Vietnam completes the signing of free trade agreements, especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, with its partners. He asked the sector to be well prepared for this golden opportunity. |
Positive signals for leather footwear exports
The leather and footwear sector earned US$2.9 billion from exports in the first four months of the year, an increase of 21.9% over the same period last year. Of the total, export earnings of handbags, suitcases, umbrellas, and hats rose 48.1% to US$821 million.
It maintained high export growth in its traditional markets such as the US, Japan, Belgium, Germany and France. Exports to some niche markets also increased sharply, including Chile (up 80.85%), Israel (120.41%), Greek (up 78.2%), and Poland (up 161.7%)
Furthermore, economic recovery from key export markets, especially the EU, helped fuel Vietnam’s export growth. Many domestic enterprises have to date signed contracts to ship products abroad till the end of August.
The Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) is upbeat about the export prospect of the sector in the near future, attributing it to incentives from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the upcoming signing of the TPP.
Vietnamese footwear and leather handbags for example will have competitive advantages in powerhouses like the US, Japan and other TPP member states.
However, Lefaso warns that businesses need to upgrade their technologies, modernise production, and develop brand names, aiming to increase quality and quantity for export products.
(Source:VOV)
