6000 textile and garment enterprises account for 15% of Vietnam's total exports, making Vietnam one of the top economic industries and one of the three major textile and garment exporters. In particular, various free trade agreements (FTAs) are expected to become a booster for Vietnam's textile and garment export growth.

Wu Dejiang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), said that Vietnam has participated in 16 free trade agreements, 12 of which have been successfully signed and officially entered into force, which will help promote export value. Textile and clothing is one of the industries that benefit from it.

Free trade agreements play an important role in the growth of textile and garment exports. Specifically, the Vietnam-South Korea Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 2015. By 2016, Vietnam's textile and clothing exports to South Korea reached 2.9 billion US dollars, up 11.8% year-on-year. In 2018, the figure reached 3.3 billion US dollars, up 24.9% year-on-year.

The Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and Eurasian Economic Union, which came into effect in October 2016, increased Vietnam's textile and clothing exports to Russia from 84.8 million US dollars in 2015 to 172 million US dollars in 2017 and 180 million US dollars in 2018.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, in the first five months of 2019, textiles and clothing maintained a growth momentum, with an export value of US$ 12.061 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%. It is worth noting that key markets such as the United States, the European Union, South Korea, China, ASEAN, and the States parties to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have all achieved substantial growth.

Mr. Wu Dejiang said that from now until the end of the year, Vietnam's textile and clothing exports will maintain a good growth momentum, with an export value of about 16-18 billion US dollars. At present, many enterprises have accepted annual orders. It can be seen that the goal that the total annual export of textiles and clothing reaches 40 billion US dollars can be completely achieved.

Source: People's Daily