Vietnam textile industry looks to 2020 and beyond

The domestic garment and textile industry wants to revise a development plan to 2020 with vision for 2030, to match the progress of the country.

The current plan was approved in April 2014, and it is expected that Vietnam garment exports will reach between 20 billion USD and 25 billion USD by 2020.

A production line of Sunrise Spinning Company Ltd, in the northern province of Nam Dinh.

However, in 2015, the garment sector already earned an export turnover of 27.5 billion USD. All the garment and textile businesses have actively taken advantage of opportunities through trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA), and Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) said the industry wants the Government to revise the plan as it is inappropriate and regressive. The Government should outline another long-term plan until 2040 to help the industry go in line with the country’s economic development.

According to VITAS, with the current growth, the sector has set export turnover at between 40 billion USD and 50 billion USD by 2020, instead of targets set in the current plan.

Vitas estimated that between 1988 and 2012, the sector attracted 1,551 FDI projects. Of this figure, there were 1,193 garment projects and 358 fibre production projects with a total investment of 3.5 billion USD.

Thanks to the FDI influence, such businesses brought 2 billion USD into Vietnam’s garment sector in 2015. As a result, the total export turnover of the garment sector reached 24 billion USD in 2014 and 27.5 billion USD in 2015, and it is expected to reach 31 billion USD by late 2016.

Giang said that apart from the five key export products, Vietnam also exports various kinds of fibre with an export turnover of over 3 billion USD annually and different types of fabric with a turnover of 1 billion USD per year.

Apart from the rapid production scale and strong export growth, the garment sector has also coped with unresolved shortcomings. These shortcomings needed to be handled soon to make the sector’s development sustainable.

VITAS has also proposed that the Government initiate policies to attract investments in this sector, including high-quality fibre production and dyeing projects.

In doing so, VITAS has also asked the Government to make a review of industrial parks or key economic zones including those from the garment and textile sector.

Over the years, the garment and textile industry has not had specialised industrial zones to attract investments in textile and dyeing. As a result, the sector still relies on importing high-quality fibre for manufacturing export products, and it cost 15 billion USD in 2015.

In addition, Giang said the Government need to invest in infrastructure development, and create incentives for investors. Special attention should be paid to the production units and the origin of textile fibre and threads, and dyeing. To obtain these, VITAS has asked the Government to pay attention to investment in international quality wastewater treatment plants.