Bright prospects for the Vietnam’s textile and garment industry

illustration photo source SGT

This remark was made by Nguyen Van Tuan, vice chairman of the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association (VCOSA), on June 25-26 at the Vietnam Textile Summit 2015 held by VCOSA and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles.

At the summit numerous problems and issues were discussed, including the Vietnamese textile and garment industry’s development opportunities. Vietnam is considered a rising star in the global supply chain of textiles and garments.

The global textile and garment industry is growing fast. World industrial sales will see significant increases from $617 billion in 2011, to $800 billion in 2017, $943 billion in 2020 and $1.664 trillion in 2030. In this regard, the scale of the world textile and apparel industry will double by 2030, while Asian producers will produce over 60 per cent of this.

Vietnam together with China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Honduras are currently the top apparel suppliers. As of the end of 2014, Vietnam ranks second with the total export turnover of $9.3 billion, equalling 10.7 per cent of global apparel export turnover.

In 2014 alone, Vietnam’s export turnover value reached $21 billion, up 17 per cent on year. The US, European Union, Japan and South Korea are Vietnam’s largest apparel export markets, making up 83 per cent of its export turnover.

According to VCOSA’s forecasts, Vietnam has many opportunities for developing its textile and garment industry. In 2025, there will be five million people working in the textile and garment industry. Vietnam will operate 17.9 million of spindles, produce 12 million metres of fabric and make a total $40 billion in apparel export turnover.

Venus Choi, supply chain manager at H&M, said that China was the biggest apparel supplier in the world. However, the Vietnamese textile and garment industry has recently seen a significant increase. Considering that it ranks second in apparel exporting in the US market among others, Vietnam is going to be an ideal destination of foreign textile and garment investors.