Vietnam gears up for textile exports boom

Ten companies under Vinatex have made production expansion investments also to meet rising domestic demand.

The Dap Cau Garment Joint Stock Co invested nearly 100 billion dong ($5.13 million) in a new factory in the northern province of Bac Ninh. It was put into operation in February and has the capacity to produce 9 million products annually.

The TNG Trade and Investment Co in the northern province of Thai Nguyen recently invested around 210 billion dong to construct its fourth facility.

The new TNG Phu Binh garment factory has a design capacity for 10 million products annually and the potential for 4,000 jobs.

The company expects the mill to be operational by the first quarter next year with 64 production lines which will bring the company's total number of lines to 172, making it one of the largest textile and garment makers in the country.

The chairman and director general of TNG Co, Nguyen Van Thoi, said textile and garment orders had shifted from China to Viet Nam. Trends have also shown orders shifting from the South to the North of the country due to more advantages in terms of labour forces.

The firm made the decision to build the new factory because its customers were well-known brands from the US and Canada such as Columbia Sportswear, The Children's Place and Capital. These partners had committed to signing long-term contracts and asked TNG to increase production, Thoi said.

"TNG plans to intensively bolster its investment so that it can produce various kinds of products from raw materials to final products in order to meet higher overseas contract requirements by 2015," he said.

Nha Be Garment Joint Stock Co has 33 affiliates and subsidiaries with $240 million in annual export turnover. Last year, despite being faced with many difficulties caused by the global economic crisis, Nha Be still approved a plan to inject trillions of dong in multiple projects.

Of the total, Nha Be invested more than 200 billion dong to expand two projects – An Nhon Garment Joint Stock Co, which produces women's suits and sportswear, and Tam Quan Garment Joint Stock Co, which produces trousers, jackets, and T-shirts. Both expanded projects are expected to launch late this month.

Duong Thi Ngoc Dung, chairwoman of Nha Be, said the expansion would help her enterprise increase its export revenue by 20-25 per cent this year over last year and reach stronger export growth next year.

Nha Be will also begin construction of the Nha Be – Tam Quan clean industrial zone and the Phu Cat complex on production, trade and services later this month.

To ensure sustainable development of the textile and garment industry, large firms should closely coordinate with one another to make bold investments in weaving, dyeing and raw materials to shift from implementing sub-contracts to direct contracts, said experts.

In the first eight months of this year, the sector reached a total export value of $6.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.8 per cent, making it the country's biggest foreign currency earner.

In addition, producers also managed to enhance sales in the domestic market. Le Quoc An, chairman of the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association said member companies had reached a 15-18 per cent growth domestically.