Mergers, acquisitions increase in textiles, garments market hinh anh 1In 2015, Vietnam has issued investment licences for 30 textile and garment projects while foreign investment in the industry is expected to continue increasing in the near future. (Source: VNA/VNS)

Hanoi (VNA) - Mergers and acquisitions in Vietnam's textile and garment industry have increased, in a bid to take advantage of free trade agreements, especially the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), experts said.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Garment - Textile - Embroidery - Knitting (AGTEK), there was a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the domestic garment and textile sector as local enterprises found they could not fulfill requested orders due to their limitations in capital.

Pham Xuan Hong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), said medium- and large-sized enterprises have maintained stable production and business, but small-sized firms have faced many difficulties in their business. Therefore, recently, many small textile and garment companies have sold their workshops and machines and entered other sectors.

In addition, some local enterprises have sold part of their factories to foreign investors, including Chinese firms who have developed a system of processing and production for export products in Vietnam to take advantage of the TPP deal.

Nguyen Van Hoan, former head of the Hanoi Industrial, Textile, Garment and Fashion College, said foreign investors meet difficulties in expanding their production in Vietnam because some provinces and cities have limited foreign investment in the garment and textile sector due to concerns about environmental pollution. This has prompted foreign investors to purchase local textile and garment companies that already have production lines and employees.

Further, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said management offices carefully weighed requests before issuing investment licences for large textile and garment projects, since textile, fiber production and dyeing projects often cause environmental problems, reported vnexpress.net. So, some investors have bought factories from local partners.

In 2015, Vietnam has issued investment licences for 30 textile and garment projects while foreign investment in the industry is expected to continue increasing in the near future.

In 2016, part of the 300 million USD provided by the Indian government will include investments in projects to manufacture textile and garment materials in Vietnam, as part of the cooperation between the governments of Vietnam and India.-VNA
VNA