Breakthrough in textile industry

(Baonghean) - After many efforts to carry out the tasks of the 2010 - 2015 term, the textile and garment industry is now considered one of the development strengths of Nghe An, with 13 garment factory projects making impressive contributions to the growth rate of the industry as well as the export turnover of the province to demanding markets such as: America, Europe, Japan...

In 2010, Nghe An's textile and garment export turnover only reached over 3.1 million USD, accounting for 1.84% of total export turnover (168 million USD); in 2014, it was estimated to reach 70 million USD, accounting for approximately 19.4% of total export turnover. This is considered a breakthrough in the textile and garment sector in investment in export production.

Industrial sewing line of MLB TENERGY Co., Ltd. in Yen Thanh

Mr. Phan Xuan Hoi - Director of Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company - one of the people who have been involved in the textile industry for many years shared: In 2010, textile and garment exports had the participation of 3 enterprises: Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company, Phu Vinh Company Limited and Halotexco Garment Joint Stock Company (separated from Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company) with a total workforce of more than 1,000 people. Goods were mainly exported to the markets of Korea, Philippines, Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Poland, and Germany. At that time, exports to these markets were mostly through foreign corporations or intermediary partners. The machinery and equipment of Nghe An textile and garment enterprises were also outdated, labor productivity was low, and there were no traditional foreign partners.

Most of the products are processed and reprocessed, so the design and model creation work is not focused on investment. Nghe An textile products do not have a brand or a big reputation, the competitiveness of textile products domestically and internationally is weak. On the other hand, marketing work, domestic and foreign trade promotion activities have not received attention, the staff working in import and export business with the ability to directly negotiate and sign foreign trade contracts has not met the requirements. The highest export turnover of textiles and garments in this period was only 3.9 million USD/year (in 2007 it was 3.3 million USD, in 2008 it was 3.9 million USD, in 2009 it was only 0.2 million USD and in 2010 it was 3.1 million USD).

The change began when the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Industry and Trade developed a project to develop export orientations in the area for the period 2011 - 2015. According to this project, one of the guiding viewpoints is to promote export development on the basis of fully exploiting comparative advantages and competitive advantages, contributing to GDP growth, accelerating the pace of economic restructuring, and developing production. Textiles and garments still maintain an important position in Nghe An's processing industry to promote the advantage of local labor resources, create jobs for workers, and accelerate export turnover.

To achieve the above objectives, investment promotion and trade promotion activities are organized and implemented synchronously along with the dissemination of investment incentive mechanisms and policies. Calling for domestic and foreign investors to Nghe An has been directed by the province. After a short time, foreign investment capital has flowed strongly into Nghe An in the textile and garment sector and currently there are 13 textile and garment projects in operation. These are Prex Vinh Company Limited, investing more than 10 million USD, attracting more than 3,000 workers in Do Luong district; the export garment project of Seoha Brand Networks Inc - Korea, investing more than 100 billion VND in Dien Thap Industrial Cluster (Dien Chau), with a capacity of 10 million products/year; The textile industrial cluster project of Haivina Kim Lien Co., Ltd. - an enterprise of Hyunjin Group - Korea, is built on an area of ​​nearly 5 hectares, with a scale of 3 production workshops, over 3,000m2 wide, modern production lines, equipment and machinery, total investment of more than 110 billion VND, 100% foreign capital...

Besides foreign enterprises, domestic textile enterprises have also chosen Nghe An as their destination, such as: Khai Hoan Export Embroidery Company Limited (Anh Son district); Nam Dan Hanosimex Textile Cluster Project,... Textile enterprises in the province have created jobs for nearly 10,000 workers, of which 7 enterprises directly participate in import and export activities, the remaining enterprises perform subcontracting for export enterprises or perform under contracts of the parent company. If according to the textile development project, the target by 2015 is textile and garment exports reaching 16 - 20 million USD, accounting for about 5.3 - 6% of the total export turnover of goods of the province, then up to now, the textile and garment industry has made a comeback. Export turnover in the first 11 months of 2014 reached nearly 70 million USD, accounting for 19% of the total export turnover of goods of the whole province. Products are exported to markets such as China, Germany, Egypt, the United States, Korea, Japan, etc. Typically, Hoang Thi Loan Textile Company, in 2014, the export turnover reached 18.2 million USD (the plan was 16 million USD) exported to the markets of Egypt, Taiwan, Türkiye. The plan for 2015 is expected to reach 20 million USD. Currently, the enterprise is one of the top units with large export turnover in the province and is also the main unit of Hanoi Textile and Garment Joint Stock Corporation (Hanosimex).

Comrade Phan Thanh Tinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade shared: In the face of the wave of investment in the textile industry from Korean and Japanese investors, domestic and provincial textile enterprises are required to reorganize production, increase investment in technological innovation, apply advanced management methods to increase both quantity, quality, design and product types to compete with foreign-invested enterprises with modern production lines, management skills, and more advanced marketing capabilities. Along with that, human resource training is needed from improving skills for workers, design and modeling, marketing staff, import and export to diversify business methods from mainly processing for domestic and foreign enterprises to gradually implementing outright purchase and sale contracts to increase export turnover and profits.

Many garment companies have come to Nghe An and chosen it as their destination. Not only in the city, many modern garment lines have been present in Nam Dan, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau. In Yen Thanh - an area known as the land of rice, the main economic sector of the district is agricultural production, in 2012, industry became associated with the local people when MLB Tenergy Co., Ltd. began to research and invest in building a factory (the second factory of this enterprise built in Vietnam). These days, coming to MLB Tenergy Co., Ltd.'s industrial garment factory, the working atmosphere is urgent. Currently, workers are focusing on production to complete the export order to Japan in early December. Mr. Joti Kitayama - Deputy Director of the company said: Opened in October 2013, after more than 1 year of official operation, the factory has now started to operate stably. In 2014, the company achieved a revenue of over 34 billion VND, with an export turnover of over 1.6 million USD with various garment products exported to the Japanese market. Currently, the company has created jobs for 675 people with a salary of 3 million VND/person/month.

"Investment in the textile and garment sector has made significant contributions to the transformation of the economic structure in the province, especially export has become one of the main driving forces to increase, promote production development, contribute to socio-economic stability, solve employment, increase income for workers. In the coming time, when Vietnam finishes negotiations to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, it will bring many new opportunities for the textile and garment industry. Hopefully, the textile and garment export turnover in 2015 and the following years will exceed 70 million USD", - Comrade Phan Thanh Tinh emphasized.

Article and photos:Thu Huyen