Vietnam's garment and textile industry wants to revise a development plan to 2020 with vision for 2030, after it overtook the export target with five years left to match the industry's progress.

The current plan was approved in April 2014, and it is expected that Vietnam garment exports will reach between $20 billion and $25 billion by 2020. However, in 2015, the garment sector already earned an export turnover of $27.5 billion. All the garment and textile businesses have actively taken advantage of opportunities through trade agreements such as the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA), and Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). Vietnam is now poised to leverage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Vietnam News has reported.

Despite the handsome export revenues, Vu Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) said the industry was facing numerous challenges as many of its companies had closed down or halted production. Therefore, the industry wanted the Government to revise the plan as it was inappropriate and regressive. The Government should outline another long-term plan until 2040 to help the industry's progress go in line with the country's economic development.

According to Vitas, with the current growth, the sector has set export turnover at between $40 billion and $50 billion by 2020, instead of targets set in the current plan.