Uncertainty over US quotas worries garment industry
06 Oct '06
2 min read
Clothing manufacturers in Vietnam are in a quandary as they have used almost entire export quota for 2006 to US and they will not be able to use the quota of 2007 in advance, informed Nguyen Duc Thanh from the Ministry of Trade.
Early 2007 would be proper time to finish quota imposition but there are still many problems which could delay it further.
Vietnam's textile and garment export to US reached US$4.462 billion or 84.2 percent of the yearly target just in the first three quarter of 2006. It was an increase of 34 percent compared to the same period last year.
US share in Vietnam's total export was $2.17 billion or 54.8 percent an increase of 29.5 percent on year to year basis while European Union stood second with $819 million, a surge of 51.6 percent. Meanwhile, export to Japan increased by 3.4 percent at $410 million.
Other than these three, Vietnam is also looking to reach out to markets like Republic of Korea, Russia and Canada. Export of 25 items among various textile and garment categories has been the most prominent to US markets.
Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association, Le Quoc An, listed out two reasons for this boom. He said, firstly, manufacturers tried to complete their orders in early 2006 and secondly US imposition of quota on Chinese clothes and textiles helped Vietnamese manufacturers mint more money.
An cautions that manufacturers must be ready to face challenge from China once US removes tariff barriers against it in 2008. Manufacturers are also worried by the decision of US to check garment and textile products imported from Vietnam for alleged dumping charges.
marketing@alchempro.com
