Vietnam earned approximately 37.5 billion U.S. dollars from exporting textiles and garments in 2022, up 14.5 percent from the previous year, according to the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade on Wednesday. Its major export markets included China, Japan, the European Union, South Korea and the United States. In December alone, however, Vietnam’s textile and garment export decreased 21.1 percent year on year to around 2.8 billion dollars.
According to the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group, though forecasts had been made early, its members were still surprised at unpredictable changes in 2022 such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and surges in oil prices, inflation and interest rates, which have dampened demand in importing markets. The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association forecast that textile and garment exports may reach 47 billion to 48 billion dollars in the positive scenario for 2023 and 45 billion to 46 billion dollars in the lower-case scenario.
In the current context, when international markets do not place long-term textile and garment orders, businesses can switch to producing lower-value items, the Vietnam News Agency cited the association as saying. Textile and garment markets will be unable to bounce back at least in the first half of 2023.
