Enterprises in the garment and fishery sectors have set development plans to take full advantage of free trade agreements such as the CPTPP and EVFTA.

A production line of Hue Textile and Garment JSC in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue. Garment firms are expected to boost production this year. 

The textile and garment industry aims to achieve export value growth at 8-10 per cent to a total of over US$40 billion and an industrial production value growth at 5 per cent, according to the Viet Nam Textile and Garment Corporation (Vinatex).

Firms will target markets under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with export turnover of over $5.3 billion. Of which, export value to Japan is more than $4 billion while the export value to Canada and Australia markets is expected to double to $1 billion each, said Le Tien Truong, Vinatex general director.

For the EU market, if the European Union and Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into effect this year, it will help increase total export revenue by $4 billion, contributing to raising total export value to over $40 billion, Truong said.

Vinatex expects growth of 5-7 per cent year-on-year in its export value this year and 12 per cent in profit, according to Truong. Those results will help realise its target of being one of the top 10 biggest listed companies on Viet Nam’s stock market.

Besides advantages from those FTAs, Cao Huu Hieu, Vinatex managing director, said this year will see more challenges than in 2018, including forecasted reduction in global economic growth, unexpected developments from the US-China trade war and Brexit in Europe. Those will lead to risks in exchange rates and imports of raw materials for the textile and garment sector.

Domestic factors are also expected to have an impact on the production activities of textile enterprises, such as the possibility of increasing minimum wages or electricity prices, thereby increasing input costs, according to Hieu.

As one of Vinatex’s members, in 2019, Viet Tien Garment Corporation aims to continue expanding markets and customer base as well as improving quality and export value. Its target is $1 billion in export value in 2020 with an annual average growth rate of 10 per cent, said Bui Van Tien, Viet Tien Garment’s general director.

For the Garment 10 Corporation, Deputy General Director Than Duc Viet said the company has set a target of VND3.2 trillion in total revenue this year and VND70 billion in profit. It expects to pay dividends to its shareholders at a ratio of 15 per cent.

Other textile and garment manufacturing enterprises such as Century Synthetic Fiber Corporation (STK), Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading Joint Stock Company (TCM) and Phong Phu Group (PPH), have also planned to increase investment in production this year, reported tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.

STK said they will promote the issuance of 10.8 million shares in early 2019 to mobilise more than VND66 billion of investment capital for the Trang Bang 5 project to increase capacity of DTY (Drawn Texturised Yarn) and polyester chip for production of recycled yarn.

As planned, the recycled fiber segment will contribute 20 per cent to this year’s revenue, higher than 14 per cent in 2018. This figure will surge to 30 per cent in 2020.

Fishery industry

Companies in the domestic fishery industry have also sped up investment and applied many technological solutions to ensure the quantity and quality of raw materials under commitments of those FTAs.

To Thi Tuong Lan, deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said the fishery industry strives to reach $10 billion in export value this year, an increase of 11 per cent year on year. Of which, the export value will be $4 billion for shrimp, $2.4 billion for tra fish and $3.3 billion for other kinds of seafood.

Le Van Quang, chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation (MPC)’s board of directors, said in 2019, MPC plans to gain growth of 15 per cent to reach an output 77,400 tonnes of shrimp and an export value to $850 million.

This year’s pre-tax profit is more than VND2.3 trillion, higher than VND1.2 trillion in 2018. The company plans to carry out merger and acquisition (M&A) of factories to increase capacity to meet growing demand.

Tran Van Linh, chairman of the Da Nang-based Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Joint Stock Company’s board of directors, said his company is planning to expand investment in processing plants to expand production and exports this year. — VNS