The Comprehensive Partnership and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with the participation of the 11 member states officially signed in Chile in the early morning of March 9 will open a New playgrounds with market size account for about 13.5% of global GDP.

 

Participation in CPTP will be a great opportunity for Vietnam to boost its exports to the member countries. Vietnam Textile is one of the industries that are expected to benefit most when CPTPP officially takes effect. Journalist of Textile and Fashion Magazine interviewed Le Tien Truong, General Director of Vietnam Textile and Garment Group to clarify this issue. Here is the interview content.

Is the CPTPP still attractive to the Vietnamese textile industry when the United States is the largest export market of the sector does not join sir?

Viet Nam Textile and Garment Industry is the only one to accompany 7 years of negotiations on TPP (now CPTPP) and businesses are very happy when the efforts of the sector have been successful. Although CPTPP does not have the US market (accounting for 48% of exports in 2017), there are still other potential markets such as Australia and Canada. These are two highly-developed markets with a relatively large textile use of about $ 10 billion a year, while the export market share of Vietnamese textiles and apparel is still small at $ 500 million. As a result, Vietnam Textile and apparel still sees CPTPP having an opportunity to expand its export turnover in these two markets to contribute to the growth target of over 10% of the sector.

In TPP there are rules from fiber onwards, so in the CPTPP are the Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises are implementing the rules or not?

At present, the rule of fiber has not been officially applied in the agreements, so the trend of enterprises is still considered as a goal in the development process and business strategy to increase added value. of the Sector. This is also the driving force for Vietnam's textile industry to have the opportunity to develop domestic supporting industries.

Sir, when CPTPP officially come into effect, the export turnover of Vietnam textile and garment is expected to increase?

In fact, the total world textile and garment demand in the last five years has remained unchanged, with countries importing only over $ 700 billion worth of textiles and clothing. Meanwhile, most of the textile and garment exporters have seen a decline. In 2017, the two countries with large export turnover of textile and garment China fell over $ 3 billion, Bangladesh also decreased, only Vietnam increased over $ 3 billion and India increased $ 1 billion. It can be said that the competition in textile export is always fierce, so the growth of Vietnam textile and garment depends very much on the dynamics of competitors in the market. Vietnam's textile and garment industry determined that without CPTPP, it would be difficult to maintain the export growth rate of over US $ 3 billion in the coming years. If the CPTPP and the Vietnam - EU Bilateral Trade Agreement are in place, Vietnam 's textile and garment industry can maintain a growth rate of about US $ 3 - 3.5 billion a year.

Do the labor and environment commitments in CPTPP have an impact, put pressure on the sector or not and how Vietnam's textile and garment enterprises have prepared to ensure this commitment?

Commitment on labor and environment in CPTPP is not new to TPP. Vietnamese garment enterprises have been listening and preparing for this content since 2014 when TPP's final rounds were relatively uniform in terms of content. After 7 years of preparation and 3 years since the conclusion of the TPP negotiation, awareness of enterprises' readiness for the new situation is better than the new period of negotiation. In fact, these are aspects of non-financial and technical barriers to more mature Vietnamese businesses in terms of technology and environmental protection and thus improve their competitiveness. Overcoming this challenge to ensure sustainable development, long-term is the inevitable path of the textile and garment enterprises in Vietnam in the coming time.

 

Without improvements in quality, productivity and technology, the textile and garment industry in Vietnam has been unable to grow by more than 10% while the world textile and garment exporters such as bangladesh very cheap), China (large scale production) decreased. With the stiff competition in price to each cent, only the production of good products, reasonable prices and the most punctual delivery is possible to survive. Each business has different preparations, but the results maintain the growth rate of the period 2012 - 2017 has confirmed the direction and preparation of the textile and garment enterprises in Vietnam.

In 2018, the Government assigned the Vietnam Textile and Garment sector to grow by 8 - 10%. So what solutions have the industry to accomplish this goal?

In 2018, Vietnam's textile and garment industry has set a high target, striving for a growth of 34 billion USD, increasing 10% compared to 2017 and export results of 1.2 months are relatively favorable, matching the succession. Plan. The basic solution of the industry is still to have good quality, timely delivery and reasonable price. Vietnam Textile does not go in the direction of receiving the lowest price orders that go in the most reasonable price with the requirement of skill and high technology. The solution to this problem is to properly invest in the technology of the current period, improving productivity not only through the skills of workers but also through the production system, management and computerization in administration. and step by step automation in the production of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Industry.

Are there any challenges that need to be addressed to support the export of Vietnamese garment in the coming time?

As a labor-intensive export sector, the textile and apparel industry as well as other industries face many challenges if the policies on labor, insurance and wages are not kept stable in the long run, will put pressure on the business is great. In addition, it is necessary to continue to reduce the cost of production outside the production of businesses such as logistic, on the way, customs, inspection ... If this work well with the increase of productivity, reduce costs, the Other export sectors of the country in general and Vietnam Textile industry in particular have a better competitive advantage. Over the past three years, the dong has been stable while other textile and apparel exporters have tended to depreciate their currencies to stimulate exports. Vietnam's textile industry is under a double pressure that is pressures to increase domestic costs and the pressure of currencies to rise against the currencies of other competitors. Addressing these pressures will be an opportunity for textile firms to make better use of the advantages of the existing Vietnamese agreements. Vietnam's textile and garment industry plays a very important role in the national economy, settling for more than 2.7 million jobs and paying workers to enter the economy on a very large scale. Therefore, the State should have policies to support workers in the industry.

 

Source vinatex.com