Vietnam's textile industry has been seeing a strong flow of foreign investment over the first half of the year. Taiwanese-owned Polytex Far Eastern Company has been granted a license to build a yarn factory in the southern province of Binh Duong. It is the largest foreign project in the province in the first six months, with a cost estimate of $274 million for the first stage. Between $700 million to $1 billion is planned for the second stage.

The company’s third textile project in Vietnam is meant to take advantage of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP), which, when signed, will give Vietnamese products duty-free access to major markets. With an investment of $660 million, Turkish-owned Hyosung Istanbul Tekstil has a yarn factory. The British-owned Worldon Vietnam has a $300 million project. These are the biggest FDI projects to be approved in Vietnam by June 20, accounting for 29.2 per cent of the total new pledges during the time.

Vietnam licensed 757 new FDI projects with total pledges of $3.83 billion by June 20, down 21 per cent year on year. Meanwhile $1.65 billion has been registered for existing projects, a year-on-year decrease of 17 per cent.