Thesteady stream of orders at the beginning of 2022 has and is injecting new impetus and momentum for textile and garment enterprises to promote productionand expand export markets. In addition to the positive signals from the marketand the initial control of the COVID-19 epidemic, this will help Vietnam's textile and garment industry achieve its export target of over US$43 billion

Hanoi, VNA – The steady stream of orders in early 2022 has injected new impetus andmomentum into textile and garment enterprises to promote production and expandexport markets. In addition to the positive signals from the market and theinitial control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, this will help Vietnam's textile and garment industry to achieve the goal of exporting more than 43billion US dollars.

Atpresent, most companies have received orders at the end of the second quarter, and the contracts for the third quarter and the last few months are still being negotiated and signed. In addition to traditional orders, enterprises are also implementing a batch of new orders with high added value, short delivery time, suitable and flexible compliance with market trends.

Workhard to overcome obstacles

2021 isseen as a difficult year for textile and garment enterprises. Not only the southern region is facing the pressure of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, butalso supply disruptions, labor shortages, and the cost of implementing "three-in-place" in other places, as well as the movement of orders.eroded” the vitality of the business. Ly Hoang Anh, manager of the Phu Tuong Spinning Factory Branch (Dong Nai Province) of Vietnam National Textile and Apparel Group, shared that the epidemic situation in more than three months has "escalated", and the branch has to use "huge" costs toimplement the "three on-site" production plan, but Factory capacitycan only reach 40% to retain partners. In addition to many difficulties such as paying staff accommodation fees, testing fees, and late delivery penalties that can reach billions of VND, the unit also had to face the situation of "blooming" days, because there was only one new crown case, and thefactory was closed. The blockade ceased operations, causing all efforts of theentire unit to be in vain. Fortunately, that time has passed. By the end of the year, Fuqiang Spinning Factory achieved a revenue of over VND 391 billion and aprofit of VND 50 billion. Mr. Ly Hoang Anh emphasized: "It is predictedthat the yarn market situation this year is not as good as last year, and theunit is also ready to adapt to the market trend. At the same time, it will continue to look for measures to improve productivity and income, so that employees can rest assured and stay in the unit for a long time."

Similarly, Phuong Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City) has also been severely affectedby the epidemic, especially in the third quarter of 2021, when total ordersfell by 42%. The company's full-year revenue was only VND 1.954 trillion (equivalent to 79.3% of 2020), but its after-tax profit reached VND 310 billion (equivalent to 108.5% of 2020). This shows the flexibility of companies intaking various measures and decisions to overcome difficulties. According tothe leader of Fengfeng Co., Ltd., the company’s goal this year is to focus on market work; among them, continue to develop exports to traditional markets such as Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN; increase exports to Vietnam’s competitive markets such as the United States and Australia. exports, as wellas the goal of being embedded in the world supply chain market. In addition, the company has also formulated the goal of rapid training and recruitment tosupplement a team of management and import and export cadres with both political integrity, good skills and business skills, mastering production technology processes, flexibility, and the ability to handle work and negotiatewith customers. In gradually expanding the market, including domestic andexport markets.

For highvalue products

Nguyen Hung Quy, general manager of the Southern Textile and Apparel Corporation (VSC), said that it is facing the same difficulties as southern enterprisesseriously affected by the epidemic, but with the advantage of having 3 factories in Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang, the unit has Sees 'opportunity atrisk' in the face of waves of migrants returning to the West to escape theoutbreak. With the above in mind, in the last few months of last year, the unitformulated a labor recruitment policy, giving priority to hiring skill edworkers, continuing to receive files for recruiting and training unskill edworkers, and gradually developing a road map to reach the target number ofemployees to expand the scope of production and increase output. On the otherhand, VSC also determined that the most practical conditions for employeeretention are increased income and a safe work environment.

General manager of Hugoco, said that in the past year, the unit hasfaced many difficulties due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.Overcoming difficulties, the parent company's revenue last year reached VND 630billion, an increase of 10% over 2020; profit reached VND 76 billion, anincrease of 5% over 2020; per capita income reached VND 10.5 million per month.This year, Hugoco strives to maintain the level of revenue and profit of lastyear, and at the same time strives to achieve a 5% growth with the orientationof FOB (purchasing raw materials, producing, selling finished products) ordersand production for the US and Australian markets. At the same time, takeadvantage of the opportunities presented by the new generation of free tradeagreements (FTAs). In preparation for FOB orders, Hugoco prepared resources, adjusted production lines, and trained and up-skilled employees to be ready tofulfill high-value, fast lead-time, partner-compliant orders.

Cao Huu Hieu, general manager of the Vietnam National Textile and Apparel Group (Vinatex), said in assessing the future prospects of the textile and apparelindustry that positive signals from the market and a large number of orders inthe first few months of this year are favorable conditions for enterprises topromote the production and export of goods. As for Vinatex, the group has formulated strategies and put forward market proposals to help member unitsincrease export of textile and apparel products in the future. Among them, the focus is on realizing digital transformation, which is regarded as the key tosuccessfully achieve the group's strategic goals for 2022-2025 and become aturnkey service for customer needs in the global supply chain. On the otherhand, it has formed a cluster of yarn, textile printing and dyeing, andclothing enterprises with a number of existing enterprises, sharing productioncapacity and forming a complete connection chain. The textile and garmentindustry is determined to be the leading export market, and the export rateaccounts for about 70%. However, in order to achieve this goal, measures needto be taken to strengthen the connection with the global production chain, andstrive to distribute directly to textile printing and dyeing manufacturers, sothat 50% of the exported yarn can be embedded in the chain.

Truong Van Tien, vice chairman and secretary general of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said that although the epidemic situation is still complicated, the positive signals released by major markets such as the United States andthe European Union are ideal conditions for enterprises to increase theirexport efforts. If the new crown pneumonia epidemic is brought under control assoon as possible, the industry's proposed total annual export volume of about42-43.5 billion US dollars will soon become a reality. However, in addition totheir own efforts, garment and textile enterprises expressed their hope thatthe state would have a special support mechanism, ranging from specificpolicies to encourage the development of auxiliary industries to overallplanning, allocation of investment promotion, formation of export encouragementfunds, financial support, etc. competitiveness in the international market.