The Vietnamese products would lose their strengths in the middle- and long-term if domestic businesses do not restructure production, thus bringing in higher added value, Tran Tuan Anh, deputy minister of Industry and Trade said.

Anh said that Vietnamese exporters should restructure their production to improve profit and enjoy preferential of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP),

This was the reason that Vietnam has issued the export strategy by 2020 with a vision to 2025 to take advantage of international integration.

Nguyen Tuan Viet, general director of Vietgo, one of the companies specialising in import-export consultancy, said that the various sectors in the country would have to change their structure as foreign firms with big capital and modern technologies would pour their investment into Vietnam to enjoy tax preferential under the TPP.

The garment and textile sector, one of the key export products has witnessed difficulties as most of the producers have been small- and medium-sized enterprises. With strict regulations on the certificate of origin, garment and textile firms would not enjoy a tax preferential if they still rely on imported materials.

Vietgo's CEO said that they received five contracts from China in December to seek cotton and down and feather for jacket production.

Vietnamese firms should invest in design, and material production to manufacture high quality products that penetrate demanding markets such as the US, Canada and Japan.

If local businesses do not change, they will become employees in their own country.