Denying claims that Cambodia had outpaced Vietnam in the garment and textile exports to the European Union (EU), Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) clarified that the figures of EU’s imports of garment products had been misconstrued by several newspapers to reflect such erroneous information.
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According to Vitas, these news media houses had mistranslated the figure on imports of garment products of the EU in 2015 (code HS61 and HS62) that included imports of both textile and garment products (with code ranging from HS50 to HS63).
According to the association, Vietnam’s exports of garment and textile products in 2014 and 2015 were €2.53 billion and €3.13 billion respectively, whereas Cambodia’s figures were €2.26 billion and €2.97 billion, respectively.
Vitas maintains that the garment and textile export revenue of Vietnam remains higher than Cambodia, although the latter enjoys a zero tax rate, following the Everything But Arms, which was part of the EU Generalised System of Preferences, while the tax rate on Vietnam’s exports was 9.6 per cent.
According to the association, garment and textile exports of Cambodia to the EU may in the short term move closer to Vietnam’s level, thanks to a more preferential tax rate. However, that is not the case in the long run, owing to the trade deal struck between Vietnam and the EU that is soon to come into effect.
