Vitas Chairman Vu Duc Giang said at a press conference on July 21 that the figure comes just as garment manufacturers are beginning to recover after two years of being severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the January-June period, Vietnam’s garment sector imported 13.4 billion USD worth of input materials, which translated into a trade surplus of 8.9 billion USD, up 32% from a year earlier.
Giang said it was the industry’s remarkable efforts since the global economic situation remained difficult.
He stated that the sector will continue to face various challenges in the second half of the year due to risks of new coronavirus variants, all while the garment supply chain continues to be affected by restrictions still in place in many of Vietnam’s key trading partners.
Rising inflation in major markets for Vietnamese garments, such as the US and the EU, increased prices of raw materials due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, labour shortages and origin tracing requirements are also challenges facing Vietnamese garment makers.
Vitas suggested that enterprises should catch up with market trends, invest in equipment, promote the green transformation to meet customers’ requirements and pay attention to human resources training as measures to achieve sustainable goals.
In 2022 Vietnam aims to export 43.5 billion USD worth of garment products.
