Textile and garment exports recovered quickly, immediately up 4%

	Machinery exports up sharply, surpassed textiles and clothing to be in top three
	Orders are plentiful, but textile businesses are worried about not being able to produce because of the pandemic
	Garment and textile exports increase market share in US

The target of textile and garment export of US$39 billion this year is quite feasible. Photo: H.Nu

From the beginning of the year to the end of February, textile export turnover showed a clear recovery after undergoing many challenges due to the strong impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, if in 2020, textile export turnover tops $35 billion, down 9.8% compared to 2019, in the first 2 months of 2021, export turnover has reached $5.8 billion, up 4% over the same period in 2020.

Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, assessed that the reason why textile exports increased again in the first months of this year was that after a year of living with the pandemic, businesses have found appropriate solutions. Along with that, the fact that countries have injected vaccines for the people is creating a positive sentiment, helping the demand for textile consumption to increase again.

While many industries of industrial production are concerned about a lack of orders due to the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic, textiles are quite different as orders are relatively abundant.

Le Tien Truong, Chairman of the Board of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said that at present, Vietnamese textile and apparel enterprises, including those of the group, have had orders until the end of April 2021.

Notably, items like knitwear and popular goods with large consumption have had orders until July and August 2021.

"It is a good signal for the recovery process of Vietnam's garment and textile, especially when Vietnam's textile and apparel has a good position in the redeployed global supply chain after the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in 2020," said Truong.

In 2021, Vietnam's textile and garment industry plans to export about $39 billion. Commenting that this plan is feasible, Vu Duc Giang stated that the reason is that the textile and garment industry is facing great development opportunities from the recently signed free trade agreements (FTA).

The Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association emphasised that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to create a driving force for the industry and replace a number of markets where the Covid-19 pandemic has not been controlled like Europe.

At the same time, FTAs are also an attractive force to help the textile and garment industry continue to call for investment in the supply shortage of raw materials.