Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Export revenue of the garment and textile sector surged 21.2 percent year on year in the first five months of 2021 to about 15.2 billion USD, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS).
The association reported that fibre and yarn exports during January-May soared by 60.1 percent year-on-year to 2.1 billion USD, while that of fabrics also increased 26.4 percent to 947 million USD.
In the period, Vietnam spent more than 10.2 billion USD on importing materials for the garment and textile industry, representing a 33.4 percent increase over the same period in 2020.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade attributed the growth to positive signals from the country’s major export markets as well as domestic businesses’ effective utilisation of opportunities from free trade agreements (FTAs) which have been signed and put in place.
The United States remained the largest importer of Vietnam’s garment and textile products with a value of 6.02 billion USD, up 24.4 percent from the same period in 2020 and accounting for 49.2 percent of the sector’s total revenue.
Japan was the second largest customer with 1.31 billion USD (down 6.3 percent), followed by the European Union with 1.21 billion USD (up 14.7 percent) and the Republic of Korea at 1.07 billion USD (up 4.2 percent)./.