Since India has strength in textile technology and Việtnam is dependent on feedstock for its textile industry from many countries, they could mutually benefit by co-operation, says the Vietmam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). On this, Vo Tan Thanh, director of VCCI’s HCM City chapter said that the garment and textile sector happened to be the country’s second largest export earner last year after increasing by 17 per cent to US$ 27.5 billion. Yet, the sector relied heavily on imported raw materials, he averred at the India Textile Machinery Exhibition (IMTE 2016).
Nguyen Ngoc Lan, deputy director general of Nha Be Corporation said that 70 per cent of the feedstock needed for production has to be imported and last year this accounted for around $15 billion. Both Thanh and Lan were of the view that existing and future free trade agreements including the TPP and Vietnam-EU FTA, would open up export opportunities for the sector.
The sector urgently needs to invest in technologies to produce its own raw materials so that it can benefit from the FTAs, especially the TPP, he said. India, the second largest garment and textile producer in the world, has advanced technologies and equipment at competitive prices, offering Vietnamese firms a good choice, he added.
