Lacking orders, textile and garment exports drop

	Textile and footwear firms: Difficult to access support policies
	Obstacles could slow progress for textile sector in 2020
	Textile enterprises rely on exporting cloth masks

Vietnam's textile and garment export turnover is forecast to decline sharply in May and June. Photo: Nguyen Thanh

Demand will recover from the third quarter

According to Vinatex, textiles and garments are not of essential importance such as food, medicine, human protective devices, but also in the category of products with essential needs.

Therefore, when the Covid-19 pandemic passes, the textile industry will be one of the commodity groups that can recover soon. Basic and cheap products will recover first and make up the main sales proportion in the third and fourth quarter of 2020.

The ability to recover high-class items depends on the process of creating new jobs in the EU and the US. If the recovery is good, it is possible to expect the recovery of high-end items by Christmas 2020.

Mr. Le Tien Truong, General Director of Vinatex said that, along with factors in consumer behavior, rearranging the supply chain with the ability of developed countries to pull the textile and garment industry into their home, ensuring both the safety rate and non-breaking of the chain as well as creating domestic jobs, maybe a new trend.

"In short, the demand will recover from the third quarter of 2020, starting with the recovery of basic products and low prices. Enterprises with better positions in the supply chain will have orders first. However, the ability of global textile demand in 2020 is still reduced by 20-25 percent,” said Le Tien Truong.

In the coming years, the recovery process will be linked to employment rates in the US and the EU. The trend of green products, less consumption after reviewing consumer shopping behavior will be the key factor to lead the world textile market.

Exports decrease by 20 percent

Regarding the exports of Vietnam's textile and garment industry, Vinatex's leader acknowledged that it is unlikely that market demand will return to pre-pandemic levels.

In the short-term, when the pandemic is under control and the demand for medical products no longer exists, the textile and garment industry will continue to fall short of orders. It is expected that the export turnover of the whole year may decrease by 20 percent compared to 2019.

Therefore, Mr. Le Tien Truong said that the right thing to do now is to focus on negotiating with suppliers to transfer raw materials and supplies to Vietnam such as Uniqlo, H&M and Zara to meet the requirements of origin and benefit from tariffs from the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); start to do small-scale testing orders but that have higher quality requirements.

The Vinatex leader said the Group's policy is to continue producing masks and medical protective clothing in the second quarter to take advantage of demand in foreign markets which are currently forecast to remain high.

The most important thing is that the entire Vinatex system must maintain its readiness to operate normally with high capacity as soon as the market shows signs of recovery.