Vietnam is among the top five textile and clothing exporting countries along with India. K Srikar Reddy, the Indian consul general at the Vietnam-India business meeting in HCM city on Thursday said that there is a lot of potential for co-operation between the two countries in the textile and garment sector.

But it has to import a lot of the raw materials, while India’s textile industry has developed a complete product supply chain and India is also one of the suppliers of high-quality materials and fabrics at competitive prices in the world.

Co-operation between the two countries would help Vietnamese enterprises diversify their raw material sources and sell high-quality products in the international market.

India could be an economical source of quality yarns and fabrics to bridge the gap and make Vietnam’s garments even more competitive.

Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Mai, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association, concurred with him, said that Vietnam has a shortage of cotton, fabric and yarn while India has an abundant supply of these products, making them perfect partners.

According to the General Statistics Office estimates last year Vietnam spent US$18.5 billion to import cotton, un-spun fibre, fabric and auxiliary materials and around $15.5 billion in the first nine months of this year.

Vietnam imported all is cotton needs, with the US and India being the largest suppliers, besides also importing fabric and yarn from India.

Shailesh Martis, joint director of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, said that last year India was the sixth largest supplier of textiles to Vietnam, but only accounted for a 1.83 percent market share, while China and Korea, the largest suppliers, accounted for 65.4 percent.

India’s export of textiles to Vietnam, especially fabrics, is very low but it is the second biggest supplier of cotton yarn after China.

Vietnam has established itself as one of the leading garment makers to the world, not only to major markets like EU and the US but also to newly emerging large importers China and Korea.

India is the world’s largest producer of jute and the second largest producer of cotton and silk, and accounts for 22 percent the world’s spindle capacity and Vietnam needs huge quantities of right-priced, quality woven and knitted fabrics to continue its growth momentum.

Nine Indian companies exporting cotton, fancy yarns, viscose/blended yarns, fabrics, staple fibre and others are participating in the Vietnam International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition in HCM City from November 22 to 25, besides local firm.

Martis also suggested ways to increase bilateral trade, including exchange of technical know-how, trade-related information and demand – supply trends for important product groups on a regular basis.