Textiles and garments top exports again
Textiles and garments top exports again
Textiles and garments regained the top ranking among Viet Nam's exports from the processing and manufacturing sector in August 2014.
Figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that export revenue from textiles and garments increased by 0.2 per cent from the previous month to nearly US$2.2 billion. Exports of mobile phone and components, the country's biggest export revenue earner in the past two years, placed second with $1.9 billion.
The figures helped bring the sector's export value in the first eight months of the year to $13.65 billion, a 19.7 per cent year-on-year increase.
The industry's export earnings are expected to achieve a 10-per cent growth rate to $23 billion this year. However, the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) warned that a number of thorny problems, particularly the procurement of raw materials, must be overcome to achieve the anticipated growth rate.
Dang Phuong Dung, VITAS general secretary, said that in spite of the high turnover, the industry's added value and quality remained low because of its reliance on imported raw materials. Domestic suppliers can meet only one per cent of cotton and 20.2 per cent of cloth demands for the sector.
With several free trade agreements between Viet Nam and foreign partners in the works, the sector is under pressure to develop its domestic raw material sources and modernise production models in order to raise its products' added value and quality.
Le Tien Truong, Viet Nam Textiles and Garment Group (Vinatex) general director, said local businesses had accumulated experience and developed a highly-skilled workforce following several years of sub-contracting. They should now shift to a modern production model to manufacture products of high added value and quality, Truong added.
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