In the first 10 months, the textile and garment industry recorded about 38 billion USD in export value, up 17.2 per cent year-on-year. (Photo: moit.gov.vn) By 2023, the industry plans to reduce energy consumption by 15% and waterconsumption by 20%.
Green growth is an important part of sustainable development. In recent years,enterprises in the textile - garment - footwear industries have paid specialattention to this issue.
According to Truong Van Cam, VITA's general secretary, a greener textile andgarment industry not only contributes to implementing the national strategy ongreen growth but also fulfils the requirements of large textile and garmentimport markets in the world, such as the European Union (EU).
Vietnamese textile-garment and leather-footwear firms need to improve thesustainability of their production for export to the EU after the EuropeanCommission (EC) proposed the goods must comply with ecological design criteria.
Earlier this year, the EC proposed a new strategy to make textiles moredurable, repairable, reusable and recyclable, to tackle fast fashion, textilewaste and the destruction of unsold textiles, and ensure their production takesplace in full respect of social rights.
Europe is a traditional and key market for Vietnam's textile and footwearindustries, especially with the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
This is an issue that businesses must focus on quickly deploying if they wantto exploit markets like the US or EU and other large markets. This will alsohelp businesses develop sustainably and reduce production costs, Cam said.
Than Duc Viet, general director of Garment 10 Corporation, said besides greenfactories, another factor is green materials.
Currently, many customers require that Garment 10 use natural and recycledmaterials so that it does not exploit more resources. The product must beself-decomposing after five to ten years of use - that is Garment 10's goal.
He said this is not only the trend of production in the world but also thecustomers' requirements.
According to VITAS, the industry's businesses have carried out many greeningactivities, such as replacing electric boilers, using rooftop solar power, andreusing wastewater. However, there needs to be more synchronism in greeningamong enterprises.
Besides that, the major barrier is large investment requests and a need forincentive policies and support.
Economic expert Nguyen Minh Phong said that to accelerate the greening process,support from the State is also vital. In addition, businesses need to activelyinvest in upgrading machinery and technology.
They include training and technical support programmes and policies on theincreasing ability to approach credit capital for green investment projects,human resource development, and research activities for green growth.
Export
According to VITAS' report, in the first ten months, the textile and garmentindustry recorded about 38 billion USD in export value, up 17.2% on the year.
President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, Vu Duc Giang said theresult was thanks to Vietnam's participation in free trade agreements (FTAs).Those help Vietnam diversify export markets.
In addition, the textile and garment industry enterprises are accelerating thedigital transformation in management and supply chain and catching up with thetrend of greening and sustainable development by producing new yarn from hempand wool.
"Inflation, currency devaluation, and decrease in purchasing power ofmajor countries are risks for the textile and garment. But those are also thepressure forcing Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises to seek anddiversify export markets. Many businesses in difficulties are still growing inproduction, such as Viet Tien Garment, Garment 10, Nha Be and An Phuoc ,"said Giang.
The representative of VITAS said this year that the textile and garmentindustry would likely gain the export target of 42-43 billion USD.
This industry hopes to overcome difficulties and challenges and sets out anambitious target of an export value of 45-47 billion USD in 2023.
According to VITAS, many businesses are now in a difficult period. Forinstance, they have reduced 25-27% in orders from November to December thisyear and the first quarter of 2023. The reduction is more severe forenterprises processing garment products.
In addition, they have also suffered great pressure from rising bank interestrates, raw material purchases and exchange rate differences. Another difficultyis the lack of labour. Enterprises with reduced orders must find other jobs toretain workers.
"Many garment enterprises have had to make bags for supermarkets to haveworkers' jobs while waiting for the textile industry to recover nextyear," Giang said. "However, we expect a strong recovery will fall inthe third and fourth quarter of 2023."
"The industry has advantages to set up that target, such as FTAs as adriving force for attracting more foreign investment to Vietnam, helpingbusinesses diversify markets and improve business performance."
For example, the textile and garment industry has often exported a small volumeof products to Muslim countries. Still, the export to those markets isincreasing because they shift some of their orders from Bangladesh and Myanmarto Vietnam, Giang said.
In addition, Vietnam's textile and garment industry has been promoting reducingimports and increasing the localisation of domestic raw materials andaccessories. That is the solution for the enterprises to be proactive in rawmaterials for the production of export products, he said.
To overcome the difficulties, Giang has also proposed to the Government,ministries and sectors to consider cutting tax or a tax delay for enterprisesthis year. They should also find soft business loans to maintain production andlabour stability.
Le Tien Truong, general director of the Vietnam National Textile and GarmentGroup, states that the recovery of textile and garment demand is forecast fromthe third quarter and fourth quarter of 2023 due to a decrease in inflation.
To increase competitiveness, Vietnam's garment industry needs to prioritisesupplying packages, producing both yarn and fabric and sewing. The industryalso needs to carry out green production with recycled products to promoteexports to European countries, Truong said./.
VNA
