In 2019, Vietnam’s exports of textiles and garments were up eight per cent year on year. However, cotton imports fell 7.4 per cent year on year, and fabric imports were up 3.9 per cent year on year. In terms of origin, cotton imports were mainly from the US and Brazil in December 2019. Cotton imports from US was around 36.9 per cent, up 6.5 per cent from the same period of 2018; Brazilian cotton share rose 18.9 per cent year on year; while cotton import proportion of Indian and Australian cotton declined by 7.4 per cent and 14 per cent to 6.1 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively. The lower shares of Indian cotton were mainly due to their high prices, and those of Australian cotton were attributed to the sharp output reduction and high prices. Brazilian cotton attracted buying interest due to its higher output and cost performance.

For the whole of 2019, the major origins remained the US and Brazil. Import volumes of US cotton accounted for 59.8 per cent, up 12 per cent year on year, and Brazilian cotton share was up by 3.5 per cent to 15.2 per cent. However, the share of Indian cotton and Australian cotton declined by 7.9 per cent and 7.6 per cent to 6.9 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively.