Vietnam'S Textile Export Is Still Difficult In The Second Half Of The Year

According to the latest information released by the General Administration of Customs of Vietnam, the import and export trade volume of Vietnam in the first six months of 2020 is about 240.11 billion US dollars, a slight decrease of 1.4% compared with the same period in 2019, of which the export amount is about 122.79 billion US dollars, with a slight growth of 0.2%; the import amount is about 117.33 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 2.9%; and the trade surplus is about 5.46 billion US dollars, a substantial growth of 221%.

In the first six months of 2020, the United States and China are still Vietnam's largest export and import markets, respectively. Among them, Vietnam's export to the United States was US $31.5 billion, up 11.4%, and its import from the United States was US $10.71 billion, up 0.1%. Vietnam's exports to China reached 19.64 billion US dollars, an increase of 18.1%, and imports from China reached 34.92 billion US dollars, a decrease of 1.9%. In the first two quarters of 2020, mobile phones and parts, electronic products, calculators and parts, textiles, mechanical equipment and parts are still the main export goods of Vietnam. The main import goods include electronic products, calculators and parts, raw materials of textile and footwear industry, etc.

Among them, Vietnam's textile export was about 15.68 billion US dollars, a sharp decrease of 13.4% compared with the same period in 2019. This is the first time that Vietnam's textile exports have declined sharply in the past ten years, which proves once again the huge impact of the new epidemic on Vietnam's textile industry. In the first and second half of 2020, the number of textile enterprises in Vietnam will be too much to enumerate, and the average sales volume of textile enterprises will be reduced by 20% in the first and second half of 2020. In order to maintain production and business activities and reduce losses, some enterprises have even transformed part of their production lines into the production of masks and protective clothing. However, about 80% of mask orders are in the form of simple processing rather than ODM or FOB orders, so it is impossible to create considerable profit margin for enterprises.

Vietnam Textile Group VINATEX made a forecast on August 2 that Vietnam's textile exports will continue to show a downward trend in the second half of 2020, with a drop rate of 14-18%, so that the total textile export volume in 2020 may reach 32.75 billion US dollars, 16% lower than that in 2019. More information points out that as of the end of July, most Vietnamese textile enterprises have hardly received orders for high-value-added products such as suits and high-end shirts in the second half of 2020, while orders for masks and protective clothing have dropped sharply due to the sufficient international supply. Therefore, in the future, if the export of masks and protective clothing is reduced, Vietnam's textile industry will face greater difficulties in the last few months of 2020.

At present, the epidemic situation in Vietnam's traditional textile export markets, such as the European Union and the United States, has not been fully controlled. In addition, the domestic epidemic in Vietnam has made a comeback in Danang city on July 25, and the confirmed cases have increased to about 100 within a week, and the first death case occurred on July 31. Under these unfavorable factors, the production, operation and export activities of Vietnam's textile industry are bound to be affected. The European Vietnam free trade agreement (evfta), which came into effect on August 1, will not bring Vietnam's textile industry the benefit of "timely rain" in the short term.