Vietnam is negotiating for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the free trade agreement with EU, which are expected to be applied in the next couple of years. When these agreements are signed, Vietnamese garment and textile products will enjoy zero per cent tax in the US and EU. The average tax rates are 17.5 per cent and 9.6 per cent in these two markets respectively.

One of the US’ conditions for zero per cent tax rate is that fibers must be produced in Vietnam or other TPP countries. Most countries with TPP have not developed the fiber industry yet, forcing Vietnam to produce domestically. The EU also imposes conditions on fabric production. The US and EU markets spent $105 billion and $260 billion on garment and textile products last year. However, Vietnam exports accounted for only 8 per cent and 3 per cent of their market share respectively.

Nearly 60 per cent of 90 million Vietnamese are in the working age, which will be a good human resource supply to develop the garment and textile industry. Experts believe Vietnam will become the world center of garment and textile production. China used to be a leader with 50 per cent of the global supply. However, that has now reduced to 40 per cent due to various reasons like pollution, increasing production costs and shortage of human resources.