The textile and garment industry will meet its annual export target of 10.5 billion USD by November, said vice chairman and general secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) Le Van Dao.

Dao estimated that the industry would earn more than 1 billion USD each month in the fourth quarter.

September was the third consecutive month the industry fetched more than 1 billion USD from exports, bringing the sector's total export value in the first nine months of this year to more than 8 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 20.6 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.

Dao said many garment exporters had orders for the end of this year and even for the beginning of next year.

Over the past nine months, exports to the big markets have recorded high growth. Exports to the US increased 22.1 percent to 3.94 billion USD while the rising figures to the EU and Japan were 6.7 per cent and 14.3 percent to 1.18 billion USD and 691 million USD, respectively.

Exports to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea surged 64 percent thanks to the impact of its Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN.

However, Pham Xuan Hong, Vitas deputy chairman, said the garment industry was facing a shortage of labour and an increase in the price of transport and power.

A surge in the price of cotton on the world market also had a negative impact on the industry. A tonne of cotton has risen 45 percent since the same period last year to 1,900-2,000 USD while the industry has to import up to 95 percent of its cotton. The industry imported 260,000 tonnes of cotton in the first nine months of the year and estimates that figure will reach roughly 370,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

Hong said garment exporters were seeking new sources from Japan and ASEAN countries in order to enjoy preferential taxes.

To fulfil the target of 19 billion USD from exports by 2015 and 25 billion USD by 2020, the garment sector is actively implementing programmes related to cotton cultivation to increase domestic supplies and develop human resources to meet the increasing demands of the sector.

The sector is also promoting its trademark and setting up distribution networks nationwide to take a firm foothold in the domestic market./.