Garment export won’t decline next year: association

Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) anticipates export would reach $39 billion next year, the same as this year, if pandemic impacts are major and linger until the end of the year.

In the more optimistic scenarios that the pandemic is controlled by the second quarter, export could reach $41 billion, and by the first quarter, $43.5 billion, it stated.

The association made its forecast as export this year expanded 12 percent from last year and 0.3 percent from 2019, indicating a recovery to pre-pandemic level.

“This could be considered a great effort of Vietnam’s garment industry amid signs of slower global economic growth,” VITAS chairman Vu Duc Giang told a recent meeting.

Truong Van Cam, deputy chairman of the association, said one positive sign is that major markets like the U.S., E.U. and Japan have reopened.

Another supporting factor is that Vietnam has changed its Covid-19 fight policy from “zero Covid-19” to living with it, he added.

In order to achieve the mentioned figures, vaccination is key, Cam said.

Two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine should be the minimum requirement for staff to return to work, while third dose vaccinations for workers should begin, he urged.

Fiscal and monetary policies should be more accessible and be effective for two or three years, he added.

“Garment and textile needs an overall strategy so Vietnamese companies can export products under their own brands,” he said, adding that a plan should be made for development until 2030.

Vu Thanh Tu Anh, dean of Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management in Ho Chi Minh City, said digital transformation has now become a must for sector survival as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced global corporations to increase the flexibility of their supply chains.