Earning 7.5 billion USD from exports in the first ten months of this year, garment and textiles surpassed crude oil, topping the list of Vietnam’s major export items for the first time.

According to the General Statistics Office, the country earned 5.4 billion USD in ten months from exports of crude oil, 2.1 billion USD less than from garments and textiles.

Experts are optimistic that the sector will rake in 9.3 billion USD for the whole year, a year-on-year increase of 3 percent.

More over, Nguyen Thi Hong Tin, Director of the Market Research and Promotion Department under the Vietnam Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex), pointed out that most major enterprises currently have export contracts through the end of the year, even to mid-2010.

Pham Xuan Hong , General Director of Sai Gon Garment Company 3, said that his company has won a contract to export products to Japan through mid 2010 and the company’s export value to Japan in 2009 may exceed 100 million USD.

Other large garment companies, including Viet Tien, Nha Be and Phong Phu, are each expected to earn about 100 million USD this year.

Also, traditional customers, as well as many new ones from Turkey, Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East, placed orders with Vietnamese enterprises. The value of exports to these new markets is expected to contribute 5 percent to the total export value of the sector.

On prospects for the sector, the President of the Vietnam Garment and Textile Association Le Quoc An said that the world economic recovery, especially Vietnam’s economy, would open up many opportunities and favourable conditions for the sector to fulfil the target of earning over 10 billion USD in 2010 and between 16-18 billion USD in 2015.

Aside from garments and textiles, many major Vietnamese export items like electronics, computers and components, and leather footwear have seen signs of recovery after a long period of decline due to the global economic crisis./.