Le Tien Truong, General Director, Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), advises Vietnam to focus on basic products as the country’s textile and garment exports are expected to decline by 14-18 per cent during the last six months of the year. The total export turnover of the country is expected to decline by 16 per cent to $32.75 billion. Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade says, in the first seven months of this year, textile production in Vietnam increased by 1.8 per cent, while clothing production decreased by 4.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.

Export turnover of textiles and apparel in these seven months declined by 12.1 per cent to $16.18 billion, while that of fiber and textile fibers decreased by 20.9 per cent over the same period in 2019.

Although clothes still ranked fourth in the priority list after savings, the budget for garments was very limited. Therefore, Vietnam needs to accept flexible, non-specialized production plans in the short term; continuing to focus on cost savings, improve competitiveness; accept competition and production in difficult conditions to maintain the system, adds Le Tien Truong.

In addition, businesses need to rearrange the production force, identify the key workforce that needs to maintain jobs and income for workers to accompany enterprises through the difficult period when the market is not yet recovered, he says. According to him, the domestic market needs to be considered a solution for employee psychology, encouraging the spirit of using Vietnamese goods.