Hanoi (VNA) - The COVID-19 pandemic has left Vietnam’s textile and garment sector indeep trouble because of rising order cancellations and delays, but some producershave found a way around and been able to weather the storm.

The pandemichas been a blow for domestic garment makers who had already been struggling to sourcematerials elsewhere outside of China after Vietnam’s northern neighbour went intolockdown in late January.

And now, justas things are beginning to return to normal in China, bigger problems have emergedas the disease has spread globally, hitting orders from key markets for Vietnamsuch as the US and Europe.

The latestdata revealed some unpleasant truths for the sector. It saw exports slide 9.07 percentyear-on-year in the first quarter and imports, 16.59 percent.

US and Europeanbuyers have suspended or cancelled orders since mid-March, according to the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), one of the country’s biggestapparel makers.

Falling exportsslashed its Q1 revenue by 7 percent year-on-year.

Demand hasplunged in the US and Europe, where travel restrictions and social distancing ordershave been put in place to stem the spread of the pandemic. Retail outlets areunlikely to reopen until early May at best, causing extended delays to existingorders while few new orders have been placed, Vinatex’s Managing Director Cao HuuHieu said.

Most ordersput on hold are for Spring and Summer clothing lines, he went on, while the pandemicis expected to be brought under control by Autumn at the earliest, making it highlylikely these lines will be cancelled anyway.

The VietnamTextile and Apparel Association (VITAS) has forecast that Vietnam’s textile andgarment exports may shrink 15 percent to 33 billion USD in 2020. Globally, ordersare predicted to fall 29 percent over the course of the year.

Despite itsmany and varied negative impacts, the pandemic is also presenting opportunitiesas local producers benefit from rising demand for medical masks both at home andabroad. Export orders are in the millions of USD, with the Garment 10 CorporationJSC being an example of an enterprise doing well in the current environment.

It has receivedan order for 400 million medical masks worth 52 million USD, together with ordersfor 20 million cloth masks from a US partner and 2 million cloth masks and 6 millionmedical masks from a German partner.

Capable ofproducing 90-100 million masks a month, Vinatex has been processing ordersfrom the Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada, and the US for anti-droplet and anti-bacterialthree-layer masks.

Shifting fromgarments to masks allows the company to keep production going and pay its workers,Hieu said.

He added thatin order to export masks to the US and the EU, producers must obtain FDA and CEcertification, respectively, which indicate that a product meets their safety, health,and environmental protection requirements.

This can generateextra costs and take time to obtain, he warned./.