Vietnam textile and garment exports reach $3Bln in Q1

Vietnam textile and garment export reached $3 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 28% on-year

Vietnam textile and garment export reached $3 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 28% on-year, the online newspaper InfoTV reported on April 16, citing the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas).

The target of $13 billion earnings this year is likely achievable as the export prices has increased by between 15-20%,Vitas said.

However, Vitas also concerns on higher production cost as the prices of material continued to rise sharply The prices of cotton imported from the US increased by 74.1% on-year. Meanwhile, electricity and fuel prices have climbed since the end of February.

Vitas instructed its members to expand material plantation area, to avoid irrelevant technical barriers with textile and garment industry in order to deal with above problems.

The sector is planned to be domesticated by 70-80% by 2015, Vitas said.

In 2010, the textile and garment export reached $11.2 billion, especially including $6 billion export to the US, up 22% on-year.

Vietnam garment gained 5.1% market share in the US market compares with 4.6% in 2009. Meanwhile, export to the UE market increased by nearly 14% to $1.8 billion, remaining the seventh biggest garment supplier in this market.

Vietnam also has many advantages from free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and with other parties such as ASEAN, China, South Korea India, Australia and New Zealand. – Stoxplus.com

Tags: Vietnam textile and garment exports