Paying tribute to good partnerships

The invitation to this get-together met with a great response. Around 90 participants from 13 countries attended the festive meeting. Most of the guests came from Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan and China. And some of them even undertook the long journey from Europe. The internationality of the guests can be explained by the specific nature of the Vietnamese market. Especially in the last ten years, a lot of global players, mainly from Asia, invested in Vietnam, in order to benefit from the favourable manpower situation.

The Vietnamese textile industry 2018/19

With exports of 36.2 billion US dollars, 2018 was the most successful year for the Vietnamese textile and clothing industries. Considering the trade war between China and the USA, the year 2019 brought both chances and challenges for Vietnam. In the first six months, the export of the sector to the USA increased by 29%. The sales revenues in the US American market amounted to approx. 7 billion US dollars. This represents 46% of the total revenues. The country has high exports but low imports. To reduce the surplus, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Vietnamese products at the G 20 Summit in June 2019. Additional levies would have a great impact on the Vietnamese economy, because the USA is the most important market for this Asian country.

The local textile and clothing market is dominated by imports from China. International textile groups still set up subsidiaries and affiliated companies. Today, the value of foreign direct investments in the country’s textile industry exceeds 18 billion US dollars. This situation is also reflected by the warp-knitting sector.