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Mr. Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of Vitas, spoke.

Breakthrough and diversify export markets

According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), in 2023, the world will witness a slow recovery of economies when geopolitical tensions still exist, fragmenting trade and high inflation; Instability in the financial market causes purchasing power to decrease significantly.

Sharing at the press conference of the Vitas 2023 Summary Conference, November 23, Mr. Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of Vitas, said that in the first 10 months of 2023, the entire textile and garment industry's exports reached over 33 billion USD, and this year will reach about more than 40 billion USD, down more than 9% compared to 2022.

The structure of export products has changed clearly. Some key export items decreased sharply such as: sweatshirts, shorts, children's clothing, etc. In the opposite direction, items such as: protective safety workwear, suits, medical clothes, jean pants increased rapidly again.

Notably, this year, the highlight of the textile industry is the breakthrough and diversification of export markets, products as well as customers. Never before has Vietnam exported textiles and garments to as many markets as this year, to 104 countries and territories.

The United States is still Vietnam's largest garment export market, by the end of 9 months exports to this market reached over 11 billion USD, followed by Japan with 3 billion USD, and South Korea with 2.43 billion USD, EU nearly 2.9 billion USD, Canada about 850 million USD, China about 830 million USD, etc.

Vitas sets a target for the entire industry to reach export turnover of 44 billion USD by 2024. Photo: H.Diu

In addition to diversifying markets, domestic textile and garment enterprises have diversified their export products. According to Vitas statistics, in 9 months, Vietnam textile and garment exported 36 types of products around the world, of which jackets are still the main export item with more than 4.3 billion USD, clothing of all kinds 3.8 billion USD, fabrics of all kinds 1.7 billion USD, underwear more than 1.4 billion USD; dresses of all kinds worth more than 900 million USD; protective safety workwear more than 860 million, etc.

In 2024, the export target is 44 billion USD

In 2024, the world economic forecast remains volatile. The challenges for textile and garment businesses have not stopped when more and more large textile import markets have introduced new mandatory regulations related to human rights and environmental assessment in the supply chain, regulations of ecological design, recycled products, textile waste treatment, etc.

However, Vietnam's textile and garment industry still has advantages compared to competing countries. Vietnam has participated in and is negotiating 19 free trade agreements (of which: 16 FTAs have been signed and implemented; 3 FTAs are in the negotiation process) and is the only country to sign free trade agreements with all major economic partners globally such as the United States, Japan, China, EU, UK, Russia.

In particular, the Strategy for developing Vietnam's Textile, Garment and Footwear industry to 2030 with a vision to 2035 recently approved by the Government will be the foundation to attract foreign investment in the field of fiber - weaving – dyeing, creating opportunities for the textile and garment industry to take advantage of incentives from the Agreements.

According to Mr. Vu Duc Giang, since the fourth quarter, many large customers have returned to Vietnam's textile and garment industry after a difficult process. That is a good sign that creates momentum for 2024. Based on analysis and forecast of the domestic and international situation, Vitas sets a target for the entire industry in 2024 to reach an export turnover of 44 billion USD.

According to Vitas, in 2023, garment exports are estimated to decrease by 3.1 billion USD (equivalent to 8.9%), fabric exports are estimated to decrease by 186 million USD (equivalent to 6.9%), fiber exports are estimated to decrease by 485 million USD (equivalent to 10.3%), raw material exports are estimated to decrease by 218 million USD (equivalent to 16%).