Vietnam’s garment-textile sector will gain significantly from the European Union (EU)-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) once it takes effect, but will also face several challenges, including shortage of supplies because of the product-of-origin requirement and saying no to new fabric dying units due to environmental concerns, experts said a recent online conference.

According to Luong Hoang Thai, director of the ministry of industry and trade’s (MoIT) multilateral trade policy department, all tariff imposed on garment-textile products will gradually go down to zero per cent, with 77 per cent of the goods seeing their tariff immediately eliminated after the pact comes into force.

Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) integration centre at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said the sector’s shipments to EU generated a revenue of $5.6 billion annually, which was high but accounted for only 2.02 per cent of the bloc’s total value of garment and textile imports. This implies the room for growth is extensive, she said.

Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) Vu Duc Giang highlighted shortage of supplies as the sector needs to meet the agreement’s requirements for product origin. He also spoke about difficulties facing firms that want to invest in fabric dying but are being rejected by localities over environmental concerns, according to a news agency report.

Giang requested the MoIT to announce at an early date a list of tariff lines applied for different types of garment-textile products. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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