Vietnam Becomes World's 16th Biggest Garment Exporter

Vietnam ranked 16^th out of 153 garment exporters worldwide, demonstrating great potential for development and leading foreign experts to predict it will become a top 10 world exporter by 2010, said a senior official in Hanoi yesterday.

 

The positive anticipation stemmed from solid growth of the industry in general and the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), the country’s leading State-run garment producer, in particular, said industry insiders.

 

The industry posted growth of around 10 per cent in export value last year, totaling more than US$4.8 billion, said chairman of management board of Vinatex, Le Quoc An.

 

Vinatex’s export turnover obtained a growth rate of 13 per cent last year. The group’s scale is considered to be on par with the largest garment producers in the world, he said.

 

The group earned VND18.3 trillion (US$1.15 billion) in total export revenue and local consumption last year, up 11 per cent from 2004, said Vinatex Deputy General Director Vu Duc Giang, adding that “This is the first time that Vinatex notched up a year-on-year record growth in profit of nearly 70 per cent, reaching VND151 billion (US$9.6 million).”

 

Giang attributed the good performance to bold investments in upgrading technologies at a total cost of VND1.2 trillion (US$76 million), streamlining both production costs and the structure of the corporation and its members.

 

To reach the target of 16 per cent revenue growth and a profit expansion of 10 per cent in 2006, Vinatex will invest VND1.8 trillion (US$113.9 million) in textile and garment projects this year.

 

The group also focuses on promoting its trademark Vinatex in overseas and local markets, in addition to selecting some trademarks from its affiliates from promotion.

 

“One of the leading targets of the group is to open a Vinatex supermarket in each province nationwide over the next five years,” Mr. Giang said, adding this aims to secure the foothold in the local market as garment products from the ASEAN block have enjoyed an import levy of 0-5 per cent this year, about 10-15 per cent lower than the previous rate.
VNS