In the first months of 2024, Sakurai Vietnam Company in Le Mon Industrial Zone, Thanh Hoa City, has gained many new customers from various countries such as Japan, China, the US, Korea, etc. Currently, the company’s garment products have been exported to more than 20 countries worldwide. In the first quarter of 2024, the company produced nearly 19 million products.
“In the past, the textile and garment industry faced many difficulties, and there was no other way for businesses to strive to improve product quality, with environmentally friendly production as a sustainable direction. Currently, our company has secured orders for 12,000 workers until the end of 2024, and we are also expanding and putting into operation an additional factory in Hoang Long Industrial Zone, Hoang Hoa district to ensure fulfilling orders for our partners,” said Mr. Kimura Masanori, Assistant Deputy General Director of Sakurai Vietnam Company.
Positive signals from the textile and garment industry in the first months of the year (Illustrative photo: KT)
If in the past, Van Loi Garment Co., Ltd., Nong Cong district specialized in producing only European and American goods, in the first months of 2024, 100% of the company’s goods were exported to Japan. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, Director of Van Loi Garment Import-Export Co., Ltd., Thanh Hoa province, said that currently, more than 700 of the company’s workers produce more than 8,400 shirt and vest products daily.
“Each customer has different requirements. For Japanese customers, the flow of a product goes through on-line inspection, inspection 1, inspection 2 at the factory, then through inspection 4 by the partner; thus, one of our products goes through 4 inspection stages, and 100% of the products must be fully inspected,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Nam.
According to a report by the Department of Industry and Trade of Thanh Hoa province, the accumulated export value in the first quarter of 2024 is estimated to reach 1,575.5 million USD, an increase of 60.5% compared to the same period last year and equivalent to 26.3% of the annual plan. Notably, in the first quarter, the garment industry exported 91 million 387 thousand products, an increase of 17.8% compared to the same period last year. These figures show that the export of the garment industry in the first 3 months of 2024 showed many signs of recovery. Besides traditional markets, many garment export enterprises in the province have flexibly shifted to markets with good recovery, such as Japan, Korea, ASEAN, or new markets with much room for growth, such as Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, and Northern Europe.
According to Mr. Pham Duy Giap, Director of Delta Hau Loc 1 Garment Branch, Thanh Hoa province, shifting export markets is also a promotion strategy of the Department of Industry and Trade and many Thanh Hoa province enterprises this year. “In 2024, in addition to several traditional markets such as the US and EU, we are more interested in the Korean and Japanese markets, potential markets with room for development. We set some requirements for the development and business departments to continuously seek and fulfill partners’ requirements to expand our market share in the Korean market.”
Thanh Hoa currently has more than 300 enterprises operating in the garment industry. Although the market in the first months of the year showed positive signs, there are still many challenges ahead, so businesses must constantly monitor market developments and have flexible response solutions to maintain and develop production and business activities.
“In 2024, we expect our volume of goods to increase by 30-40%, and it depends on the number of additional workers we recruit. We are building a new factory in Minh Nghia, Nong Cong, with an estimated output of 5 million products. By the end of the second quarter, we will recruit 500 workers, and in the fourth quarter, we will operate at full capacity at that factory,” said Mr. Tran Cong Tue, Director of Truong Phat Production, Service & Trading Co., Ltd., Thanh Hoa province.
The Department of Industry and Trade of Thanh Hoa province is implementing solutions to promote trade promotion activities and supporting businesses to make good use of tariff preferences from signed trade agreements to tap into and expand export markets.
“The Department of Industry and Trade is the standing agency of the steering committee for international economic development and will advise the Provincial People’s Committee on administrative procedure reform to create conditions for enterprises, disseminate information on new-generation free trade agreements, support connecting enterprises through Vietnamese trade offices in other countries, and assist enterprises to develop e-commerce for their units,” affirmed Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Head of the Import-Export Management Department, Department of Industry and Trade of Thanh Hoa province.
It can be said that despite many difficulties and challenges, garment export enterprises of Thanh Hoa province have been keen on retaining old customers and finding and exploiting new markets for export, stabilizing production and business. This is the premise for Thanh Hoa’s garment industry to fulfill the target of producing about 530 million products in 2024.
