A number of Vietnamese garment and textile enterprises have won contracts to export their products till the end of October this year, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas).

According to Vitas, orders from Japan increased sharply, making Japan the largest importer of Vietnamese garment products.

At present, the sector exports 33.3 percent of its products to Japan , 23 percent to the US , 26.5 to the EU, and 17.2 to other markets.

Vitas Vice President Pham Xuan Hong said that as the sector’s largest market, the US , has shrunk, Vietnamese enterprises are exerting their efforts to find new outlets.

At present, the Middle East is the largest market for Vietnam ’s cotton clothes and Russia is the market for children’s wear, jeans and jackets. Export value to those new markets have recently increased by about 5 percent of the sector’s total export value.

The Apparel Export Promotion India (AEPC) has forecast that Vietnam ’s garment and textile export value may reach 10.98 billion USD this year as compared to 8.4 billion USD in 2008.

It added that the target of earning 9.5 billion USD is not feasible, but the value of 9-0.1 billion USD of 2008 is reachable./.