Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s textile industry could not take fulladvantage from the new-generation free trade agreements like the Europe-Vietnamfree trade agreement (EVFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) if it continuesdependence on imported raw materials and accessories, according to watchers.

A report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said Vietnam shipped 22.56billion USD worth of garment and textile products to foreign countries in thefirst nine months of this year. Meanwhile, cotton import turnover in the periodsurged 30.3 percent to 2.41 billion USD, and purchase of fabric increased 13.5percent year on year to 9.39 billion USD and that of yarn was estimated at 1.78billion USD, up 34.6 percent.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh has said the garment andtextile sector is expected to earn high revenue of 35 billion USD this year. “Wehave enjoyed high export earnings but we do not have materials,” he pointedout.

Particularly, when the EVFTA and the CPTPP take effect in the end of this year,with tax lines cut to zero, Vietnamese garment and textile products will haveopportunities to expand its market share in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.However, the two deals set high requirements in terms of thread and fabricorigin, which poses barriers to the industry when it is tangled in the middle,productive in terms of final products but grinding to a halt in the productionof materials.

Pham Tat Thang, a senior researcher at the MoIT, said domestic textile firmsare able to produce 0.8 billion metres of fabric each year, meeting only around13 percent of the total demand. This means the country still has to import 5.2billion metres of fabric annually.

Thangsaid that even the home-made amount is not qualified to make high-qualityproducts. In fact, many businesses have to import more than 90 percent of itsmaterial to satisfy production.

Chairman of the Vietanm Textile & Apparel Association (VITAS) Vu Duc Giangsaid that the association has called for foreign investments to ensuresufficient supply for the sector. During January-August, the country securedover 2 billion USD in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the garment andtextile industry. Those include a 50 million USD sheep wool yarn spinning plantin Da Lat city, invested in by German Sudwolle, and a 13.8 million USD sewingthreads factory in Quang Nam province by German Amnn Group.

Domestic firms have also invested heavily in weaving and dying. Advancedtechnology has been applied in Phong Phu International JSC in softerner washprocess for its jeans and khaki products. Meanwhile, Bao Minh company recentlyopened its weaving factory in Nam Dinh province, with a designed capacity of over 35million metres of fabric each year – 70 percent of which will be yarn-dyed.

Giang expressed his belief that with the presence of new weaving companies, thesector will have sufficient material to ensure its sustainable development.-VNA