Vietnam is now the fourth largest textile exporter in the world with 12.18 billion USD earned from these products in the first six months of this year, according to the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).

The figure represented a 10.26 percent increase from the same period last year.

The US, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the European Union were the biggest importers of Vietnamese products, posting growth rates of 11.01 percent, 8.33 percent, and 8.2 percent, respectively, against the same period last year.

Vinatex General Director Le Tien Truong said the results are a positive sign which will enable Vietnam’s garment industry to achieve its set target of 27-27.5 billion USD in export value this year.

With favourable movements in the global economy and the recent signing of free trade agreements (FTA) between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the RoK, 2015 is forecast to be a bright year for Vietnam’s garment industry.

Mentioning opportunities brought about by the Vietnam-EAEU FTA, Truong said Vietnam is likely to earn over 1 billion USD from shipping textiles to the market if the country takes full advantage of benefits from the agreement.

The sector will need to make additional efforts to seek new markets and opportunities, and establish partnerships with major groups to be able to sign high-value orders in the remaining month of this year, Truong said.

The export value of Vinatex, which has the largest production scale in the textile and garment industry in the country, hit 1.7 billion USD in the two first quarters of this year, up 10.7 percent over the Jan-June period last year.

The group plans to invest 9.4 trillion VND (441.3 million USD) by 2017 in 59 textile, dye, garment and infrastructure projects.

VNA