Vietnam is aiming for 80 per cent ratio of locally made content in garments by 2020 from the current 45 per cent. But the situation doesn’t look promising. Only a few Vietnamese companies can organize closed production lines, or all phases of the production process, from weaving to dyeing to garments to trimming. Most Vietnamese companies are small- and medium-sized, and lack financial capability.
It is also more costly to invest in a garment workshop than in a textile factory. The biggest challenges for Vietnamese businesses are investment capital, technology, workforce and consumption. High costs have made investors wary. It is very costly to invest in dyeing and weaving, and it is difficult to run dyeing and weaving workshops. Investing in garment factories is getting higher partially because of high costs to build and run waste water treatment systems.
Some provinces don’t welcome textile and garment projects. A dyeing and weaving project, for example, was turned down by local authorities because the investor could only build a waste water treatment system that puts out B-level waste water (which can be used to grow vegetables and farm fish). The local authorities demanded A-level waste water (that is, drinkable).
