Many textile-garment enterprises in Vietnam secured export orders until the end of the second quarter and some have tight production schedules until the end of this year. According to Le Quang Hung, Chairman of Saigon Garment Manufacturing Trading JSC (Garmex Saigon), there are plentiful export orders which will keep their factories busy until the end of the year and that the firm looks to raise revenue by 20 per cent to VND1.8 trillion this year over last year. Garmex Saigon obtained VND1.53 trillion ($68.3 million) revenue in 2015.

Said, Pham Xuan Hong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) that most of the companies have won export contracts for the first and second quarters and some even prepare goods for export until the year’s end. Vietnam’s apparel export turnover reached $27 billion last year and is projected to rise by over 10 per cent to some $30 billion in 2016, Hong observed.

Ministry of Industry and Trade statistics reveal that the manufacturing index of the textile industry went up 12 per cent in January and the index for the apparel sector up 11.2 per cent year-on-year. Nearly 30 million sq. mt. of woven fabric made from natural fibers was turned out last month, up about 10 per cent year-on-year, artificial and synthetic fiber products grew 6.5 per cent to 63.3 million square meters, and clothes were up 9.2 per cent with 305.8 million items. Overall, the textile-garment sector posted $2 billion in export revenue in January, a rise of 5.8 per cent against the same period of 2015.