this year, garments continued taking the lead amongst export staples
since the beginning of 2009.
The export of garments
to the Republic of Korea saw the highest growth rate of 84 percent,
mainly thanks to a reduction in tariff in line with the ASEAN-RoK Free
Trade Agreement, while the export to the US , which accounts for 55
percent of the industry’s revenues, also grew by 20 percent.
In particular, garment exports to the European market have bounced
back in the past three months, at 7 percent, following a long period of
dropping.
Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Garments and
Apparel Association (Vitas) Le Van Dao said a number of domestic garment
companies have received orders for the first half of 2011, plus prices
have risen by 10-15 percent year-on-year.
A
representative of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Viet Hung Garment Joint
Stock Company said the business has recently signed contracts to export
1.2 million items to Japan in early 2011.
Vietnam ’s garment firms will also have the opportunity to boost
exports and investments to Laos and Cambodia as the European Union
(EU) has decided to grant references in terms of material origin to the
two nations.
With these advantages, Dao said the
industry is likely to reach the yearly target of 10.5 billion USD in
export turnover right in November.
To achieve
sustainable development, garment businesses have also paid due attention
to the domestic market by participating in programmes which are
designed to encourage local consumers to use Vietnamese goods and bring
Vietnamese goods to rural areas.
Many supermarkets
under the Vietnam Garment and Textile Group have embarked on plans to
expand foothold in the domestic market in an effort to record a retail
sale growth rate of between 17-20 percent in 2010./.
