Vietnam’s textile and garment exports witnessed a surge of 5.1 per cent to US $ 10.7 billion in the first half of 2016, the slowest pace since the year 2010. The industry experts attribute this to the rise of new suppliers in the global market.
Although there hasn’t been a cut back on purchases from the buyers, there has been a shift towards other manufacturing destinations like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar due to lower import tariffs which result in lower prices of products. The downshift suggests that the industry, which accounted for nearly 14 per cent of the country’s total exports last year, is likely to miss the annual shipment target of US $ 31 billion this year, according to Vietnamese local news website.
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Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) reportedly said that Vietnam will have to wait for at least two years before its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU and the Pacific-Rim trade pact TPP come into effect. At present, Vietnam’s textile shipment is subject to an average tariff of 17 per cent in the US and nearly 10 per cent in the EU.
