Vietnamese textile and garment producers are urged to look to Russia and Japan as competition is expected to heat up in the U.S. market, where a recession has already slowed consumer spending.
Vietnamese textile and garment exporters need to prepare themselves for fiercer competition from Chinese exporters next year, the newspaper citied industry officials.
The nation’s number one export earning sector is already struggling, with the global economic crisis slowing demand, forcing local firms to reduce production and lay off workers.
Diep Thanh Kiet, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Association of Garments, Textiles, Embroidery and Knitting, said things could get even worst next year, with U.S. safeguard quotas on Chinese apparel and textiles expiring on January 1, 2009.
With the quotas lifted, China will be free to export even more textiles and garments to the U.S., the Vietnam clothing and textile industry’s main export market, accounting for about 55 per cent of export revenues.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is yet to announce whether it will continue to monitor Vietnamese clothing imports next year. Under a program that expires on January 1, U.S. authorities had the option of imposing limits on Vietnamese exports of trousers, shirts, underwear, swimwear and sweaters to the U.S.
Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association Chairman Le Quoc An last month predicted the U.S. will extend the special supervision program by at least a year.
Local producers say they do not know whether to try to compete with Chinese producers by lowering prices or by switching to making high-end products.
Kiet said if Chinese products were no longer subject to U.S. import quotas, Vietnamese exporters would find it hard to compete directly with their Chinese rivals in the middle and low price segments.
Vietnamese producers could switch to high-quality products, but these would be hard to sell to U.S. consumers, who have cut back on spending since the U.S. fell into recession, he added. (Thanh Nien)
Vietnamese
