5-month trade surplus of 6.95 billion USD
Mr. Truong Van Cam - Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association informed that in the first 5 months of 2025, the textile and garment industry exported over 17.58 billion USD, an increase of 9% over the same period in 2024, imported 10.63 billion USD, so the industry had a trade surplus of 6.95 billion USD.
Textile and garment is an open industry, currently exporting to 104 countries and territories. In 2024, the total export turnover of the industry reached 43.6 billion USD, of which exports to the US were 16.6 billion USD, accounting for 38.2%; the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was over 7 billion USD, accounting for 16.25%, of which exports to Japan alone accounted for 10.5%, Canada was over 1.2 billion USD, accounting for 2.8%; The EU market reached nearly 4.5 billion USD, accounting for 10.25%; China, including yarn exports, reached 3.6 billion USD, accounting for 8.3%; South Korea accounted for 8.5%; ASEAN 7.1%; UK accounted for 1.8%; Russia is a very fast growing market, accounting for 1.75%.
In particular, the two markets of the Middle East and Africa, although having large populations, have not been exploited much by the industry. The Middle East market accounts for less than 1% of the industry's export proportion, Africa only reached 0.34%. "This shows that the textile and garment industry is also picky about markets", Mr. Cam said.
Notably, along with the development of domestic enterprises' internal strength, the export ratio of domestic and foreign enterprises has been more balanced, in which FDI enterprises account for 58-60% and domestic enterprises account for about 40%. "In particular, domestic textile and garment enterprises can reach out to the world market for investment", Mr. Cam emphasized.
Regarding the competitive advantages of Vietnamese textiles and garments in the world market, through the survey results in 6 countries Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, China and Vietnam, Mr. Cam informed that Vietnam is only lower than China in a few indicators, the rest are much more advantageous compared to other countries. This proves that Vietnam's textile and garment industry in terms of product quality and price is ranked at the mid-range or higher.
Looking at the general situation, although Vietnamese textiles and garments have many strengths, Mr. Cam said that the industry is facing many challenges. These include: volatile environment, epidemics, protectionism, especially tariff policies in major markets with many changes, strategies changing from fast fashion to sustainable fashion, supply chains must trace their origins, labor and environmental standards, etc.
In addition, there are other challenges such as capital needs for raw material production, green transformation and digital transformation towards a circular economy, etc., which are also major challenges in the industry.
Focus on relieving the "thirst" for raw materials
Among the challenges facing textile and garment enterprises, the lack of raw materials for production is a serious problem. This not only makes it difficult for Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises to trace their origins to enjoy tariff incentives, but also makes it difficult for the industry to develop design patterns, reducing competitiveness in the export market.
Talking about this, Mr. Nguyen Trong Phi - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Giovanni Group Joint Stock Company, said that the slow creation of designs for sales is partly due to capacity, but most importantly, there is still a lack of raw material markets for enterprises to access suitable raw materials.
"Currently, to make samples for brands, enterprises have to contact foreign suppliers to send raw materials. If there is a raw material market, enterprises will access it very quickly, saving time and costs," Mr. Phi emphasized.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Giovanni Group Joint Stock Company also pointed out that we do not have our own industrial parks for textile and dyeing production, while localities are also very cautious about these projects. So how can we attract foreign investment to develop domestic raw material sources?
Sharing more about this issue, a representative of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association said that domestic enterprises have made great efforts to diversify their raw material sources to compensate. "Enterprises have actively connected with suppliers in India and Turkey, but after a while of cooperation, they have faced anti-dumping measures, so enterprises do not have much confidence in these markets," Mr. Cam said.
With the above difficulties, to remove them, Mr. Cam said that the fundamental solution to the bottlenecks of the textile and garment industry is to be self-sufficient in raw material sources. The industry has a strategy to build large textile and garment industrial parks to attract investment in fabrics and dyeing, if implemented, this is the most sustainable solution. Diversifying supply sources is only temporary due to the lack of stability.
However, in the near future, textile and garment enterprises are not yet self-sufficient in raw materials, so they still prioritize diversifying their supply sources. Therefore, Mr. Cam suggested that the Vietnam Trade Office abroad provide information on the supply capacity, quality stability and product diversity in some markets with advantages in this product for enterprises to research and choose.
In response to the proposal of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, Mr. Vu Ba Phu - Director of the Trade Promotion Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the production of raw materials for the two textile and garment and footwear industries is 50% concentrated in Asia such as: Korea, China, Taiwan (China) ... in the current context, production can move out of these countries and Vietnam with many advantages can become a production investment location.
“If we determine this is a very important task, the two sectors need to specifically study which corporations are holding which stages and which key products in the raw material supply chain, then identify them specifically so that ministries and sectors can develop policies and “pull” these manufacturers to invest in Vietnam. The association will consider and make recommendations to the Government to have enough strength to implement this issue,” said the leader of the Trade Promotion Agency.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn