Garment Export to US Likely to Face Quota Shortage
Vietnam's garment exports to the US are likely to face a harsh quota shortage in the coming months as the year's quotas are being quickly exhausted in the early months of this year, warned industry analysts.
According to the Ministry of Trade, the country has gained over US$564 million from outbound sales of textiles and garments to the US so far this year, posting record growth of around 43 per cent.
Exporters to the US market have already exhausted 30-70 per cent of their total quotas for the "best-selling" products this year, including quotas for swimwear and synthetic fiber cloth, shirts and skirts, said the ministry.
The situation was attributed to the open automatic quota allocation system that permits US-bound clothing exporters to base their quotas on demand for orders.
The ministry has restricted automatic visas for the export of some categories comprising of T-shirts and trousers.
Last year, Vietnam's garment exports to the US fetched $2 billion and the figure is expected to rise 7 per cent this year.
In the face of the quota shortage, exporters have tried to promote exports to non-quota markets in the EU, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
The ministry also said the country's apparel export value to Canada posted healthy growth in the first quarter of this year. Revenue from jackets exported to Canada, for instance, doubled to $1.5 million against the same period last year.
In the first four months of this year, Vietnam is estimated to earn $1.74 billion from outbound sales of garment and textile products, up 38.7 on-year. The figure for the whole year is expected to surpass $5 billion, compared with $4.84 billion last year.
Young People
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