Le Tien Truong, General Director of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) feels, participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Vietnam's garment industry will have a competitive advantage. Speaking at a seminar on Vietnam’s garment industry in Ho Chi Minh City recently he said, Vietnam maintained growth of over 10 per cent only during 2007-2014 when Vietnam had no new trade agreements and many countries saw the fall of exports of garment-textile products (entirely based on its competitiveness). In terms of technical productivity, the Vietnamese garment industry reached the world’s top three.

In 2015, Vietnam exported $27.5 billion of garment-textile products but it had to spend $14 billion to import raw materials. Of the remaining $13.5 billion in the country, we spent $6 billion to pay salaries and over $ 7 billion for domestic raw materials. Going forward, Vietnam needs to overcome the problem of input raw materials, said Truong. Vinatex CEO added that in Vietnam, businesses only need $3,000 to invest in a position of garment worker (people and technology) but up to $200,000 for a fiber or dye worker.

Truong said that it is extremely hard for small and medium enterprises to invest in the textile and dyeing industry. So, Vietnam needs up to $15 billion to invest in the industry, he concluded.