Among products recording significant export growth included fabrics made from natural fibers at 14 per cent, fabrics from synthetic fibers at 14 per cent and clothing at 11 per cent.

The ministry attributed the period’s positive performance to the fact that many businesses had received orders for the first six months of this year or even the whole year.

Sharing the MoIT’s assessment, chairman of the HCM City Textile and Garment - Embroidery Association Pham Xuan Hong said he believed that the prospects of domestic textile and garment industry were quite positive this year thanks to adequate orders from foreign partners.

Nguyen Van Can from the HCM City-located 28 Corporation told the online newspaper congthuong.vn that thanks to positive market demand, its member companies and subsidiaries had won contracts for the first quarter.

As well as a rising number of orders, Vietnamese textile and garment goods had become more attractive to foreign customers thanks to their strong competitiveness in terms of quality and price compared to those of rival countries in the region, according to trade experts.

The supply chain, which had been gradually completed thanks to increasing flow of capital invested in the textile and dyeing industry and free-trade agreements Viet Nam had inked with several countries and blocs, had made Vietnamese garment products much more attractive, they said.

The textile and garment industry would likely generate $40 billion from exports by the end of this year, up 10.8 per cent year-on-year, the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) has forecast.

The industry’s trade surplus was expected to reach $20 billion this year. Employment would be ensured and income for 2.85 million workers would be increased, said VITAS.

These targets were based on a successful year in 2018, when export turnover of garments and textiles products reached more than $36 billion, marking a year-on-year increase of 16 per cent. This level of growth would make the nation one of the top three largest exporters of textiles and garments in the world.