The next generation for the textile industry
ALKING
The textile and apparel industry was defined as a field with one of the highest growth rates potentials over the next 12 years. However, companies in the sector face challenges due to global trade policy changes and the boom of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Vietä Nam News reporter speaks to Tranà Thanh Haiû , deputy director of the Import-Export Department under the MinistryofIndustryandTradeandThanâ Ñöcù Vietä ,deputy general director of Garment 10 Corporation Joint Stock Company (Garco 10) about the issues. origin. On the other hand, the Government has concentrated on building large brand names which could join in global distribution chain. These are the issues that our garment companies are making a priority.
What policy should the government have to promote exports?
With the current capacity, the export scale is close to the limit. We need to have more investments in order to meet the export demand in a long-term and sustainable manner. In addition, in order to expand exports, we should of course have markets with greater preferential or markets where we have FTAs. We still have some agreements that are very significant for textiles such as CPTPP, EUVieät Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). All of these agreements are still in place. It is expected that they would be implemented in the future.
How will the Fourth Industrial Revolution affect the garment and textile industry?
For textile and garment industry as well as those which use a big number of labourers, this has a significant impact. When the Industry 4.0 is fully applied, the number of labourers will be redundant. The issue is that textile and garment enterprises need to reorganise to know how to apply technological achievements at production stages.
Labourers need to upgrade their knowledge to operate more sophisticated machines. Every machine should be operated by an employee. In the Industry 4.0 era, however, the operation requires a higher level than the present.
Could Vieät Nams garment and textile industry continue to maintain its competitiveness as the global trade policies have seen changes?
The competitiveness of Vieät Nams textile and gar- ment industry is relatively high. Therefore, we still maintain the high export growth. Long-term, we see problems that need to be overcome to maintain high export.
Local companies should improve their management capacity. If businesses do not have management ability to operate plants on a larger scale in a more fierce market and requiring newer technologies, they could fall behind, stop or not be competitive.
What are your evaluations of the countrys garment and textile sector?
Garco 10 is a typical unit. Our companys exports in the first six months of the year had more positive signals compared to last year.
The number of orders from the beginning of the year has been very stable. In previous years, we received orders three months in advance.
However, we received orders from big importers in the world such as the US, Europe and Japan to August since last December. Market signals are relatively good.
In terms of export value or business output effectiveness, these are not as good as in 2017. The export prices have not been increased though the number of orders has been on the rise.
Secondly, there is a fierce competition in term of labour among businesses. Enterprises which do not have good policies for labourers and lack strong financial resources, transparent and effective management, could struggle.
What should businesses do to ensure good labour force in the current fierce competition?
The competition for labour sources is partly an internal problem.