According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), around 30-35 per cent of textile and garment factories in Vietnam have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. VITAS chairman Vu Duc Giang recently said during an online meeting that a number of these factories, especially small and medium enterprises, will have to close for a long duration.
Businesses, he said, do not have enough funds to pay for three-on-site working arrangements to support employees to return to work. This is a huge challenge to stabilising Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises, he said.
Additionally, the vaccination rate of Vietnam’s textile and garment industry is still quite low, particularly in key production areas in the southwestern and southeastern provinces, he added.
VITAS and three other industry associations sent a memorandum to the prime minister proposing speeding up vaccinations or supporting businesses to buy vaccines to give to workers of export industries.
Up to 90 percent of supply chains in the sector are currently broken. VITAS data shows the export value of the textile and garment industry reached $18.7 billion in the first six months of the year, while the target for the whole year is $39 billion.
With the pressure of a seasonal manufacturing industry in which timeliness is imperative, failing to deliver on time would cause customers to cancel orders which would impact the industry in the medium term, Giang added.
