Garment companies brimming up with orders

Orders from importers are coming so quickly to Vietnamese clothing companies that some are already being forced to turn away orders

It is expected that Vietnam’s garment industry will be out on its own this year having earned more than nine billion dollar year thanks to the recovering demand. Experts believe export turnover will match the previous year’s, or possibly go even although some difficulties still exist.

Garment companies now can choose clients

Chairman of Saigon Garment Production and Trade Company Le Quang Hung said that their export turnover in December 2009 is estimated to reach two million dollar. Meanwhile, the company has had orders worth five million for the first four months of 2010, which will ensure jobs for some 2,000 workers.

Deputy general director of Nha Be Garment Company Pham Phu Cuong has confirmed that the total value of the contracts the company has signed for until the end of the first quarter of 2010 has reached 60 million dollars Cuong said that the company is now selective when choosing clients and export markets before signing the contracts.

Deputy general director of Viet Tien Garment Company Phan Van Kiet said that contracts Viet Tien has inked have exceeded 80 million dollars until the end of the second quarter of 2010.

“Now we can say for sure that we will have jobs until the end of May 2010,” he said, adding that Viet Tien plans to gain $200 million in export turnover in 2010, up by 20-25 percent over 2009.

Increased orders have also helped improve workers’ wages. Saigon 3 Garment Company in HCM City, which paid 2.2 million dong a month on average in the difficult period, has raised the average wage level to 2.6 million dong as a result of new orders.

Quality is the decisive factor

Analysts say the demand for Vietnam garment products has been increasing mostly from the US, EU and Japan markets. They say that the decisive factor that makes foreign partners place orders with Vietnamese producers is the high quality.

Cuong from Nha Be Garment Company said Vietnam is now the strong choice for clients not only because of the “risk disperse” theory (importers do not want to put all their eggs into one basket by placing orders only with Chinese producers), but also because of high quality from Vietnamese workers.

Vietnam finds itself still unable to compete with China in terms of low grade products which have superiority in both price and productivity. However, the situation is quite different with medium class products. In this segment, Vietnam may be lower in productivity and slightly more expensive but can meet targets 100 percent in demand for quality.

VietNamNet/TT

Tags: Vietnam exports, Vietnam Garment industry