Vietnam's fabric imports rise 18.97% in Jan-July'13

10 Oct '13

2 min read

The imports of fabric by Vietnam during the first seven months of the current year increased by 18.97 percent year-on-year to US$ 4.7 billion, according to Vietnam Customs statistics, Sinotex.net Network reported.

China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand were the main countries that supplied fabric to Vietnam during the seven-month period. These four countries together accounted for 94.8 percent of all fabric imports made by Vietnam during the period.

With US$ 2.1 billion worth of exports, China continued to be the leading supplier of fabric to Vietnam during January-July 2013 period. China’s fabric exports to Vietnam increased by 26.45 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Vietnam’s fabric imports from South Korea were valued at US$ 979.5 million, up 21.56 percent compared to the same period last year.

Although Vietnam’s fabric imports from Philippines amounted to only US$ 1.8 million, it shows a substantial increase of 61.13 percent over the same period last year.

In 2012, around 4,000 textile and garment companies in Vietnam together earned US$ 20 billion, with exports contributing US$ 17.2 billion, accounting for 15 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

However, the country depends to a large extent on import of raw material for its clothing industry. Of the 420,000 tons of cotton used by the Vietnamese textile industry last year, around 99 percent or 415,000 tons was imported, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). Similarly, 88 percent of the 6.8 billion metres of fabric used by the garment industry last year was imported.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Textiles News - Vietnam...