While Vietnam’s garment and textile industry has been flourishing over the last few year, 2019 saw the country fall short of its projected export target by US $ 1 billion (achieved US $ 39 billion).
Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group, or VINATEX, has urged the industry to comply to ‘Rules of Origin’ if it has to avail any of the benefits of the recently signed free trade agreements (FTAs).
Lê Tiến Trường, General Director, VINATEX, said “Vietnam needs to invest in fabric production to meet origin requirements while exporting to CPTPP and EVFTA countries.”
He also warned that it will not be easy for Vietnam as it will have to compete strongly with major fabric producers China and India especially with regard to design, quality and price.
He added that while investing in fabric production, production scale must be taken into consideration as Vietnam’s apparel sector uses less than 1 billion metres of woven and knitted fabric annually, or 18 per cent of global exports.
“If fabric production targeted only Việt Nam, production scale would be too small while investing in large-scale production,” said Trường.
It is important to note here that recently the Việt Tiến Garment Joint Stock Corporation signed up with Luenthai and Newtech to establish the Việt Thái Tech fabric factory, which is expected to supply fabric for the apparel and textile sector