Indian textile firms hunt for trade partners in HCM City
02 Jul '11
2 min read
With an aim to explore newer trade and investment opportunities in Vietnam, a team of India's top cotton producers and exporters under The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council of India (Texprocil) have met the representatives of Vietnamese firms in Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City.
Director of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vo Tan Thanh said that in spite of several problems, Vietnam's garment and textile industry has managed to post positive results during initial six months of the current year.
During the period, the sector's export earnings registering a year-on-year rise of 30 percent grew to US$ 6.16 billion. The sector aims to achieve US$ 13.2 billion to US$ 13.5 billion in textiles and garment exports this year, exceeding the set target of US$ 13 billion, Mr. Thanh said.
He, however, added that in order to achieve this goal, the sector needs to import raw materials including cotton in bulk from foreign countries as the domestic sources are not enough to meet the rising demand.
Texprocil Chairman Amit Ruparelia said that Vietnam has become a leading garment exporter and is continuously hunting for superior quality cotton textiles like fabrics and cotton yarns.
In view of this, he said that India, being one of the major textiles and clothing suppliers globally, has a potential to supply all kinds of raw materials that the Vietnamese textiles and garment industry requires.
Vietnam's cotton textile imports from India have grown by almost two-fold since 2009, Mr. Ruparelia said and added that in 2010, Vietnam's cotton textiles imports from India stood at US $50 million.
Consul General of India in HCM City, Abhay Thakur said that a sharp rise has been noted in trade between India and Vietnam over the past few years.
With a rise of 34 percent over 2009, last year the trade grew to US$ 2.75 billion. In the initial four months of the current year, it stood at US$ 1.26 billion and is expected to touch US$ 4 billion by the end of this year, he said.
Mr. Thakur further said that Texprocil intends to jointly work with Vietnamese industry for mutual benefit by cashing in on the competitive advantages of both the countries.