Garment exports reach $10.8b
Garment exports reach $10.8b
The country's textile and garment sector achieved a trade surplus of US$5.3 billion in the first eight months of 2012, a year-on-year increase of 24 per cent.
According to the Viet Nam Textile and Garment Association (VITAS), in the first eight months of the year, the sector achieved an export turnover of $10.8 billion, an increase of 6 per cent compared with the same period last year.
The textile and garment sector has taken the lead of the country's top 10 export products.
VITAS attributed the decrease in input materials to an increase in trade surplus enjoyed by the sector this year.
In addition, the sector has reached a localisation rate of materials and equipment of 49.5 per cent, up by 7 per cent compared with the same period last year.
VITAS said the sector's export turnover to major overseas markets had increased sharply.
In the first seven months of 2012, exports to the US reached $4.2 billion, up 10.6 per cent; to Japan, more than $1 billion, up 23 per cent; to the US, $452 million; and to South Korea, an increase of more than 19 per cent compared with the same period last year.
These increases will make up for the decrease in the sector's export turnover to the European Union markets, which was $1.3 billion, down by nearly 4 per cent over the same period last year.
As a result, the sector is expected to reach its 2012 targets of attaining an export turnover of $15 billion earlier this year, according to Dang Phuong Dung, VITAS' Secretary General.
vietnamnews
