Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Aug. 27 (VNA) -- Local textile and garment producers earned more than 420 million USD from their exports to the U.S. market in the past eight months, a nine-fold increase over the same period last year.

However, the amount remained modest compared to the U.S. total annual spending of 60 billion USD on importing textile and garment products.

Local producers said that some obstacles should be removed in order to increase Viet Nam's textile and garment export earnings in the U.S. market.

The low technological level of many local textile producers has handicapped them. Therefore, garment producers in most cases have no other choice but to import raw materials and additives for making for-export products. This has made the local industry heavily dependent on overseas markets and lowered its production and business efficiency.

Due to a shortage of investment, most Vietnamese garment producers still have to sign sub-contracts with foreign partners. As a result, they have not yet been able to establishe their own trademarks in the international market.

The U.S. market set high requirements for quality and social responsibility for those textile and garment producers who wish to sell their products in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, only a few Vietnamese producers have been granted ISO 9000 and SA 8000 certificates.

The absence of a distribution network in the U.S. market and the lack of high-quality technicians, fashion designers and skilled workers are other obstacles for the local industry.

Viet Nam's total textile and garment export revenue in the period under review was registered at 1.56 billion USD or a year-on-year rise of 14 percent.--Enditem