Vietnam, to gain bigger textile and garment export revenues in 2008, is focusing on expanding markets, improving the products' ompetitiveness, and raising production capacity.
The country, which is estimated to reap textile and garment export revenues of 7.7 billion U.S. dollars this year, has eyed to export the products worth 9.5 billion dollars next year, including 5.3-5.5 billion dollars worth to the United States, 1.6-1.8 billion dollars worth to the European Union (EU), and 800 million dollars worth to Japan, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The ministry has urged local garment and textile firms to further tap traditional markets such as the United States, the EU and Japan, and seek new ones.
The companies should closely cooperate with big U.S. importers to make high-value orders, avoiding low-value ones which are bases for the foreign country to conduct anti-dumping lawsuits. Regarding the products' competitiveness, the ministry has asked local companies to improve quality, diversify models, and reduce reliance on material imports, especially cloth for garment production.
Under a national strategy on developing the garment and textile industry by 2015 to be submitted by the ministry to the government for approval, the country will develop cotton cultivation, especially that in major cotton-growing areas, and produce one billion meters of cloth for export in the year.
Vietnam is strengthening cooperation with ASEAN members to have bigger supply of textile and garment materials and improve the products' competitiveness.
"We can import cloth with zero percent tariff from Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia for domestic garment production, and then export the garment products," said Le Quoc An, Chairman of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), the country's biggest garment and textile producer and exporter.
Besides, the country is accelerating equitization of state-owned garment and textile firms, and calling for greater foreign investment in the local industry.
"Many big firms from ASEAN countries want to invest in Vietnam, " he said.
Vietnam is appealing for both local and foreign investment in eight projects on textile industry development in the northern, coastal central and southeast regions, two on garment production and one on distribution system expansion in the coming time.
Together with expanding export market and increasing the products' competitiveness, Vietnam is raising the production capacity, aiming to post an annual production growth of 16-18 percent between 2006 and 2010. It is focusing on upgrading weaving, warping and dyeing factories, and researching into production of new cloth items.
The country is also fostering manpower development and studying to avoid trade barriers. As for the United States, the country's biggest garment export market, the Vietnamese ministries of Foreign Affairs, and Industry and Trade and the Vietnamese Embassy in the United States should closely work with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to slash the number of items being monitored, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas).
Vietnam now houses over 1,000 textile and garment factories with more than 500,000 employees, or 22 percent of the total labor force in the country's industrial sector.
Source:Xinhua
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