The Vietnam textile and garment sector after observing good results in the first quarter due to rapid growth from new markets such as Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which saw a growth rate of 115% in Russia; and the Asian Economic Community (AEC) with growth of 17%, 11%, 38%, 24.5%, 36% and 5% from Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, respectively, enters the second quarter (Q2) of this year with promising signs from new import markets, said General Director of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) Le Tien Truong.

Statistics showed that the sector earned US$6.75 billion from exports in the first quarter of this year, growth of 12.4% compared with the same period last year.

Although the sector faced many challenges in exports to key markets, including low growth rates of exports to the European Union and the United States of between 6.3% and 6.4%, traditional markets such as the Republic of Korea, Brazil and India, maintained high growth between 14% and 34%.

The sector saw good growth in exports of many new products including swimsuits and raincoats with 29% and 41%, respectively. They can see that their efforts in using initiatives to access markets and exploiting bilateral and multilateral trade agreements have produced results, mostly in the EAEU and AEC, said Truong.

According to an Insiders, firms in the textiles and garment sector, particularly Vinatex, had performed well in recent years. They had foreseen difficulties of European markets and the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement before devising their own ways to promote business overseas with new products.

New markets and new products have developed strongly since June last year when the businesses saw the advantages of trade agreements under negotiation between Vietnam and other countries.

They concentrated on improving capacity, cutting costs and production prices even though domestic basic expenditures continued rising while the forex rate was stable.

In exports, the stable forex rate is a problem for businesses, particularly with Vietnam’s rivals, including China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia, devaluing their domestic currencies in order to keep their market shares.

Truong said that the sector could reach the growth rate target of 10% this year. This was a high target but with efforts from the entire sector it’s a reachable figure.

Their textile and garment businesses always expect that in macro policies, there would be calculations to balance the Vietnamese dong’s forex rate and the currencies of other countries to raise their competition in exports.

The businesses also hoped to enjoy a proper loan interest rate, similar with that of other countries, to help businesses cut costs.