Although global buying power for garments has dropped from US$704 billion in 2011 to $697 billion in 2012 and demand from most major markets such as the US, EU and Korea fallen to an all time low, Vietnam’s garment industry still managed an export growth of 12 percent with revenues at $15.8 billion.
Last year, garment and textile exports touched $17.2 billion, up 8.5 percent compared to 2011. Of which, the country only imported materials for $8.8 billion and used nearly 50 percent from domestic suppliers. Last year, trade surplus in garment and textile industry hit $8.4 billion.
As for the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group, exports exceeded $2.6 billion, an increase of 16 percent compared to 2011.
The industry has still set export growth target of 12-15 percent for this year and is expected to bring in revenues of $18.8-19.3 billion.
