Garment industry eyes 60 billion USD from exports by 2025

Thứ tư - 17/04/2019 20:42 208 0

The textile and garmentindustry, aiming to take advantage of free trade agreements (FTAs) with a focuson green manufacturing, is upbeat about earning 60 billion USD from exports by2025.

Illustrative image - Source: VNA

Last year, the industry earned 36 billion USD in exports, up16 percent year-on-year, making the country one of the world’s three biggestexporters of textiles and apparel, according to the Vietnam Textile and ApparelAssociation (VITAS).

Vu Duc Giang, chairman of VITAS, said the association thisyear set a target of 40 billion USD in exports, up 11 percentyear-on-year.

Speaking at the 2019 Global Textile and Apparel Supply ChainConference held last week in HCM City, Giang said the industry wasexpected to enjoy a trade surplus of 20 billion USD, and employ 2.85 millionworkers.

Textile enterprises have seen positive signs for orders thisyear. “Many businesses have already received orders for the first six months of2019 and even for the entire year”, he said.

Because of increased capital flow to the industry, thecountry has gradually completed a textile and apparel supply chain, while theupcoming enforcement of new FTAs will also be a good factor for the industrythis year.

This year, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is expected to boost the development of manyindustries of Vietnam, including the textile and apparel industry.

The industry is also expecting more orders to shift fromChina to Vietnam due to the ongoing US-China trade war.

Vietnam is participating in 16 FTAs. Ten out of 12 signedagreements have been enforced, including the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement,the ASEAN-China FTA and the ASEAN-Korea FTA, while the two remaining, the CPTPPand the ASEAN-Hong Kong FTA, have not yet come into force.

Participation in various FTAs could help Vietnameseenterprises have more choices in exporting their products, but it also bringschallenges to the industry, according to VITAS.

The FTAs that Vietnam has signed all have environmentalbarriers with higher green standards, which require enterprises to improve notonly product quality but also production processes.

If enterprises fail to do this, they will face a risk ofhaving orders stopped or rejected, especially orders from major internationalgarment brands.

Most Vietnamese textile and apparel enterprises dooutsourcing, so they rely heavily on orders from other countries.

Customers worldwide are now more environmentally conscious,which has forced global brands to improve operations to include higherenvironmental and social standards.

Giang recommended that Vietnam should continue its efforts toensure environmental protection in manufacturing to become a “sustainablesupplier of choice” of textile and apparel.

The country has committed to fully implementing 17 goalsof the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentto ensure economic, social and environmental benefits, according toGiang.

“Implementing a shared responsibility to respond to the 21^stcentury's biggest global challenge, Vietnam and the internationalcommunity ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015. And thetextile industry is part of that commitment”, he said.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, chief representative of VITAS office inHCM City, said that many provinces established their own industrial parks fortextile and garment activities.

The industrial zones have invested and put into operationwastewater treatment systems, helping businesses complete their responsibilityto protect the environment during production.

VITAS set up an Environment Committee three yearsago and has taken part in an action programme for the Green theTextile and Apparel Industry group.

In addition, last year VITAS and the World Wide Fund (WWF)for Nature launched a project to green the textile industry. The project aimsto encourage players in the domestic textile sector to promote better riverbasin governance, water quality improvement and sustainable energy use.

Marc Goichot from WWF-Greater Mekong said that greening thetextile sector in Vietnam would help achieve its wider goal of addressing rivergovernance and energy sustainability, which are top global environmentalconcerns.

With 6,000 factories nationwide, employing some three millionpeople, the textile and apparel industry contributes 15 percent of exports. Theindustry is, however, causing a serious environmental impact.

Intensive water extraction, use and discharge of wastewater,and high-energy consumption for water heating and steam generation caused bythe industry can seriously affect water resources and greenhouse gas emissions.

As the industry continues to expand, improvement in practicewill be required to reduce the impact.
The UN predicts there will be a 40 percent water shortageglobally by 2030.

Source: VNS/VNA

Từ khóa: Garment industry eyes 60 billion USD from exports by 2025