Textile and garment exports will reach US $ fourty one billion

	Textile enterprises overcome difficulties sustainably
	Factors contribute to Vietnam’s success in garment & textile industry
	Textiles and garments face "double" difficulties: Lack of orders, unit prices are deeply reduced

Sir, before the difficulties of the market in the past time, how has Vietnam's textile and garment industry managed and how do you evaluate the export prospects of the industry this year?

In the first seven months of 2003, Vietnam's textile and garment industry exported US $22.7 billion, down 14% over the same period last year. This decrease is significantly lower than 17% at the end of June. This result is very encouraging in the current situation and shows the efforts of enterprises in the industry. Because businesses have faced great pressures and challenges in the last six months of 2022 and the first six months of 2023, but Vietnam's textile and garment industry has found the bottleneck and quickly adapted.

Accordingly, businesses diversify markets, bringing Vietnamese textiles and garments to seventy-seven markets around the world. Besides, the diversification of product lines instead of specialization as before. Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have also adapted very quickly to small orders, short delivery times, and stricter quality requirements. In addition, the issues of greening are a plus point for the sustainable development of Vietnam's textile and garment industry in the coming time. On that basis, I expect this year we will achieve an export turnover of US $ 40-41 billion.

Green transformation is the key strategy of Vietnam's textile and garment industry towards sustainable development in the future, in the process of implementing this strategy, what challenges have enterprises encountered, sir?

Vietnam's textile and garment industry has invested in sustainable development, greening, infrastructure, equipment, working environment for workers, and technology during the past seven years, especially in the last five years. In that process, many challenges related to finance for investment in sustainable development have been raised. In addition, there is the challenge of ensuring the adaptability of Vietnam's Law on Environmental Protection as well as the provisions of the importing country's trade agreements. Another challenge is the technical barriers that some countries put in place after the Trade Agreement. This is a difficult problem, especially related to the problem of recycled product lines. Currently, countries are required to set the percentage of recycled content in products that will be exported to their markets.

Could you please share some details about the response level of Vietnam's textile and garment industry to the current recycling problem?

Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have begun to invest in recycled products and European countries have also posed the problem of using recycled products, but the pressure is not too great. Countries give us a roadmap to meet their conditions. Currently, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have met about 15 - 18% of recycled products and I think we will adapt in time.

Currently, we have many factories that meet the standards of sustainable development such as green environment, clean environment, energy saving, water source, renewable energy and especially working environment. In which, there are factories that have obtained certificates of the US, Europe, Japan, and international organizations.

Next November, we will invite ambassadors of EU countries and EU organizations and businesses to visit a Vietnamese factory, Tan De Garment Company in Thai Binh province. This factory has 19,500 employees but from the outside, it looks like a forest. This is a model that we will continue to replicate for businesses in the near future.

However, I think it's just a standard for brands to ask for green, sustainable, or recycled products. In addition, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises still have to meet the price, delivery time, and product quality issues to get the stability of orders.

In such a context, the SaigonFabric Summer 2023 exhibition took place over the weekend, what does it affect Vietnam's textile and garment industry, sir?

This Saigon Fabric Summer Fair has solved five major problems for Vietnam's textile and garment industry.

Firstly, this is the first raw material fair specializing in the domestic market, thereby creating an information channel for manufacturers and brands, especially fashion designers, to get the right kind of raw materials. whether they are in need and the Vietnamese market is lacking.

Second, this fair will reshape the sustainable development strategy of recycled products that importing countries have set for Vietnam's textile and garment industry.

Third, this fair also creates opportunities for chain links between yarn, textile, dyeing and garment manufacturers, thereby bringing about stable and sustainable development.

Fourth, the fair is a step in the development strategy of the Government set out for Vietnam's textile, leather, and footwear industry. In 2024, we will continue to have to launch similar fairs like this and add some new product lines to the market.

Fifth, I think it is very important, that is the identification of brands in the Vietnamese textile and garment industry, especially the view of importing countries when they see that we constantly organize fairs like this to introduce information channels, introduce new product lines of raw materials. This will help brands and buyers decide to choose the Vietnamese market to develop a number of product lines for export to their markets.

Thank you very much!