Vietnam is currently ranked among the world’s top five textile and apparel exporting countries. This means the country needs a lot of raw material, especially raw cotton. Vietnam’s cotton imports are likely to reach five million bales in the 2016-17 financial year. The US will be one of the biggest beneficiaries. Cotton imported from the US has made up around 40 per cent of Vietnam’s total cotton imports over the past few years.

Vietnam’s cotton consumption has been increasing at an average 22 per cent year on year for the last five years. Domestic cotton consumption for 2014-15 represented a 35 per cent growth in quantity from the previous year. Vietnam’s spinning industry is expected to consume a lot of raw cotton in 2015-2016, up by 25 per cent from the previous year.

Vietnam is home to over 100 spinning mills with an estimated capacity of over 9,00,000 tons of cotton-based and manmade yarns. Up to two thirds of Vietnam’s cotton imports are spun in foreign-owned mills. The country’s textile and apparel exports are expected to have even bigger growth in the near future, thanks to several free trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the free trade agreement with the EU, and that between Asean and China and between Vietnam and Korea. This also means that Vietnam will remain as one of the fastest growing cotton importing countries.