Garment, textile industry needs to give domestic market appropriate attention

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that garment and textile industry needs to give proper attention to domestic market with nearly 100 million people in which the middle class is increasing and is expected to account for 50 percent of population by 2030.

This is the sustainable development direction for garment and textile industry. Made-in-Vietnam garment and textile products not only present in foreign countries but also in Vietnam. The industry needs to escape from the situation of lacking of initiative in raw materials instead of mainly producing yarn and processing products because currently, 60 percent of fiber materials must be imported.

PM said that garment and textile industry is one of the industries with highest export turnover and is the most labor-intensive industry in the country with 3 million workers, accounting for a quarter of total labor force of industrial industry. Vietnam’s garment and textile industry has risen to the third largest in export after China and Bangladesh.

Vietnam has not mastered and developed production stages such as dyeing, manufacturing high quality fabrics, high-quality materials and accessories. That is the reason why value added has not been high. At the same time, structure of export products completely tilted to garment with export turnover accounting for up to 78 percent of total exports of the industry, US$28 billion out of $36 billion of garment and textile exports in 2018. PM said that product structure must be calculated more specifically for better production assignment.

In the future, PM said that the industry must create brand names that are well-known in the region and in the world, bringing long-lasting benefits for the country and the future generations. By 2030, the industry must strive to achieve export turnover of $100 billion. By 2030, at least 30 brands of Vietnam's textile and garment industry will contribute to the world market and be among leading countries in the world.

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) held a ceremony to celebrate its 20th anniversary on December 13. So far, VITAS has 487 official members, 500 associate members and 7,000 garment and textile enterprises. In the past 20 years, export turnover growth was 106 times higher, making great contribution to the country’s record import-export turnover of $500 billion.

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