Le Tien Truong, General Director of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex) disclosed, the country textile and garment industry has targeted a year-on-year 10 per cent increase in export to $34 billion in value terms in 2018 in spite of issues in markets at home and abroad. He reported Vinatex’s performance at a meeting in Hanoi. Vinatex reported its total revenue in 2017 was 45.55 trillion VND ($2.02 billion), out of which domestic sales contributed to 10.39 trillion VND, which is 22.8 per cent of the total revenue. The pre-tax profit in 2017 reached 1.43 trillion VND, the group disclosed. The organisation has targeted a revenue of 48.5 trillion VND and a pre-tax profit of 1.45 trillion VND for 2018, a Vietnamese news agency was said to have reported.

As Vietnam’s textile and garment industry will face more competition this year, Truong urged the industry to continue to invest in technology to create stability, sustainability and efficiency in production. Last year, the country exported textile and garments valued at $31 billion, higher than its target of $30 billion. Major markets such as the US, the EU, Japan and the Republic of Korea maintained good growth while there were breakthroughs in exports to other markets such as China, Russia and Cambodia, noted Truong. The Korean market grabbed fourth place in 2017, close to the Japanese market, reaching an export value of $2.7 billion. Exports to China last year was $3.2 billion, the same as the export value to Japan. This year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will withdraw 53.5 per cent of its shares in Vinatex as part of their Prime Minister’s divestment initiatives.