Vietnamese garment and textile exports plunged by 18.63% to US$8,701 billion during the first three months of the year, compared to the same period in the previous year, due to the impact of global inflation. The fall was the deepest in the first quarter since 2009.

Global inflation forced consumers to tighten spending on non-essential products, which led to a sharp drop in exports to major markets such as the US and EU. The shortage of export orders since Q4 2022 has led to a sharp drop in export turnover, factories operating at below capacity and reduced working hours for employees.

Many forecasts predict that the domestic industry's export growth will slump this year.

The textile and garment industry will face challenges such as the trend of increased layoffs and businesses moving the workforce away from big cities in 2023, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association.

In this context, textile and garment enterprises have to implement many solutions such as restructuring enterprises, markets and products to maintain production and keep workers while waiting for the market to warm up.

The most significant solution is to diversify markets, products and brands produced in Vietnam.