Vietnamese textile and garment firms are being active in making full use of the opportunities created by the CPTPP. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese textile andgarment firms are being active in making full use of the opportunities createdby the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP) to boost exports to Canada once the deal takes effect in early 2019.
Both Vietnam and Canada are members of theCPTPP, which also gathers nine other countries. The agreement covers a marketof about 500 million people and has a combined GDP of 10.1 trillion USD, or13.5 percent of worldwide GDP.
Le Tien Truong, Director General of the VietnamNational Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said that although the CPTPPdoesn’t include the US – who imports nearly 50 percent of Vietnam’s annualtextile-garment exports – there remain many other markets with great potential,particularly Canada.
Canada imports approximately 13.3 billion USDworth of textiles and apparel each year, but of this quantity, Vietnameseexports are still modest, valued at about 550 million USD annually.
Vietnam has yet to sign a free trade agreementwith Canada, so the CPTPP will help open up chances for it to acceleratetextile-garment shipments to the North American market in the coming years,Truong noted.
To grasp opportunities, Vinatex has activelysought and provided information for Canadian partners, he said, adding that itrecently sent a delegation of businesses – including Hanoi Textile &Garment Joint Stock Corporation (Hanosimex), Hoa Tho Textile-Garment JointStock Corporation, Duc Giang Corporation, and Phong Phu International JointStock Company– to explore the potential of cooperation with Canadian importers.
Phong Phu International JSC said that throughits direct meetings with Canadian businesses, it has learnt more about customerdemand in this market, enabling it to plan more specifically towards settargets.
It has succeeded in implementing the ODM(original design manufacturer) production model. By applying advancedtechnologies, the company now only needs one to 1.5 days to create new productmodels, instead of the previous period of two months. The time needed to bringa new product to the market has also been reduced from eight weeks to twoweeks.
Meanwhile, Hanosimex introduced 40 knittingproducts and cotton towels to Canadian partners. It highlighted the capacity ofmeeting the “yarn forward” rule of origin in its products.
It learnt from the requirements of Canadianbusinesses that the products must be able to supply, the company noted, addingthat Canadian retailers and importers have shown their interest in textile and garmentsfrom Vietnam.
Hanosimex said that in order to optimise theadvantages generated by the CPTPP, it will step up capitalising on materialsupply sources to satisfy the “yarn forward” rule of origin under this deal. Itwill also seek more suppliers in Vietnam or other CPTPP members to diversifyproducts, and build flexible production models to meet orders with differentrequirements.
Hoa Tho Textile-Garment JSC also met directlywith the Canadian firms it is partnering with to enhance connectivity anddiscuss cooperation plans for next year.
The enterprise said it will also make use ofmaterial supply sources in a way that meets the “yarn forward” rule of originunder the CPTPP to ensure product quality, competitive prices, and goodservices. Flexible production models will also be applied to meet partners’requirements. –VNA
VNA
