Upcoming TPP drives multi-sector expansion

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On February 2, state-owned Vietnam National Textile-Garment Group (Vinatex) broke ground on the Vinatex Kien Giang Garment Plant with a total investment of VND150 billion ($7.1 million).

The project is positioned in Thanh Loc Industrial Park in the Mekong Delta province of Long An and consists of two phases. In the first, the plant will include eight suit production lines and seven trouser production lines and will employ 1,000 workers.

The second phase will expand to 18 suit production lines and 16 trouser production lines and will employ 2,225 workers.

The plant expects to generate VND200 billion ($9.5 million) in revenue each year.

This is only one of several projects under Vinatex’s accelerated development plan that strives to achieve $5 billion in export value by 2016 and tap opportunities from the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), hopefully this year.

In 2014 the textile and garment sector has set a goal of 10 per cent growth over 2013’s export value of $20.5 billion, said deputy chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) Le Tien Truong.

Truong also said businesses in the sector would enjoy enormous opportunities to increase export to TPP member countries, which account for 60 per cent of the sector’s total export value, after ratification of the multinational agreement.

The footwear sector also looks to have huge advantages with the TPP, and therefore businesses are eagerly deploying major new projects.

Just over a week ago, TBS Group in southern Binh Duong province kicked off construction of its TBS Kien Giang Footwear Factory with VND1.2 trillion ($57 million) in total investment.

Its first phase of production is slated for 2015, with annual production capacity of five million units.