Nhan Dan Online - Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on July 21 organised a meeting with garments ant textiles enterprises in the north to discuss measures to fulfill the export turnover target of the sector set for this year.

According to the statistics by the MoIT, Vietnam's total garments and textiles export turnover in the first half of this year reached US$4.2 billion, up 20.5% compared to the same period last year and accounting for 44.2% of the year's targeted figure.

In order to fulfil this year's target of US$9.5 billion worth of garment and textiles export turnover, the sector will have to export a total US$5.3 billion worth of products in the second half of this year or US$885 million a month on average, up 24% compared to the average monthly export turnover in the second half of 2007.

According to MoIT deputy minister Bui Xuan Khu, this is quite a hard job for the sector in the current situation. In order to fulfill the target, according to the deputy minister, enterprises have to promote production, reduce costs, increase productivity and manage their production and trading activities in the most efficient manner.

The garments and textiles sector, like other sectors, are facing various difficulties in their business activities due to unfavourable changes on the domestic and global market. In addition, the sector remains depended heavily on imports of materials. It is also among those sectors that employ many workers.

Within the context of high inflation, the workers' salary does not ensure their frugal life. Many of them have given up their jobs, creating labour shortage within the sector and more difficulties for enterprises' leaders.

In addition, bank's lending interest rates have been at high level and it is very hard for enterprises to borrow from banks, many projects to expand production have to be delayed.

The fast-changing VND/US dollar exchange rate has also created considerable difficulties to enterprises of the sector as most of the materials are imported.

The heavy shortage of electricity have caused great difficulties to production of the enterprises too, making it hard for them to fulfill their orders in time.

Furthermore, the inadequate infrastructural facilities for import and exports at seaports which often see tie-ups in clearing imported materials and loading products for exports is another matter of great concern.

The US's monitoring programme on apparel imports from Vietnam has also caused negative impacts to both US importers and Vietnamese exporters.

At the conference, many delegates, after pointing out the difficulties they were experiencing, called on the Government to work out policies to help them overcome these difficulties so as to stabilise production and strengthen exports.

Deputy Minister Khu urged enterprises to take better care of their worker's life so that they would continue working instead of quitting their job. He also suggested that garments and textiles enterprises should consider shifting their production to smaller cities and other localities where labour is abundant, not just concentrating in big cities and provinces.

He also promised that the Ministry would set up a special working team to check on the supply of electricity by the Electricity of Vietnam and that electricity shortage would be eased off during the upcoming months.

He also announced that the Ministry of Finance agreed to extend the collection time of corporate income tax for garments and textiles enterprises for one year to help ease their difficulties.

The MoIT would also organise a meeting with Haiphong port authorities on July 22 to discuss ways to resolve the handling jams at the port.

With regards to exports to the US market, Deputy Minister Khu urged enterprises not to export cheap products.

By Thu Thin