The Turbulence in Bangladesh: A Temporary Advantage for Vietnam’s Garment Industry.

"The key difference between 2024 and 2023 is that the market has become more favorable after each quarter. The disruptive effects of competing nations like Bangladesh and Myanmar have created a short-term advantage for the Vietnamese textile industry."

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This information was shared by Le Tien Truong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Group (Vinatex, UPCoM: VGT), at the Party Executive Committee Conference held last week.

According to a preliminary report on the business results for the first nine months of 2024, Vinatex estimated consolidated revenue of VND 13,036 billion, up nearly 1% compared to the same period last year, and pre-tax profit of VND 490 billion, an increase of over 70%. With these results, the Group has achieved nearly 73% of its revenue target and over 89% of its profit target for the year.

According to Vinatex Chairman Le Tien Truong, the context of the market in 2024 remains challenging and unstable. The only difference between 2024 and 2023 is that the market conditions have improved quarter by quarter.

In the first six months of 2024, the entire textile and garment industry only exported about 20 billion USD. However, the unstable situations in competing countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar subsequently created short-term advantages for Vietnam’s textile and garment industry.

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“Enterprises need to continue taking drastic actions, improve production capacity, and practice saving to ensure stable production and business operations, especially for material-producing enterprises that have been facing difficulties for the past 30 months”, emphasized Mr. Truong.

Taking the lead in the niche market with flame-retardant fabric

“The goal is to achieve 44 billion USD in exports in 2024, a 10% increase compared to 2023. Achieving this goal depends largely on market signals in the fourth quarter of 2024″, commented Chairman Le Tien Truong in a recent article on the Vinatex website.

From his experience, Mr. Truong has observed that long-term forecasts of 6 months to 1 year have been highly inaccurate since 2022. Therefore, he points out that the biggest challenge for Vietnam’s textile and garment industry is the unpredictability of the market.

“We may have very good months, but right after that, there will be 1-2 bad months”, said the leader of Vinatex. The market fluctuations since 2022 have taught the managers of the textile and garment industry an important lesson: always make shorter-term forecasts, update information promptly, and make quicker and more flexible management decisions to catch the waves of short-term growth in the global market.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vinatex Le Tien Truong sharing at an event in May 2024

To achieve its annual plan, Vinatex and its member companies have implemented their own solutions and strategies. One of these strategies is to venture into the niche market of flame-retardant fabric and apparel production to increase product value.

Accordingly, Vinatex has entered into a joint venture with the Coats Group to invest in the production of flame-retardant fabric. They are currently expediting production and expect to export the first orders to Indonesia, India, the Middle East, and the US in the third quarter and early fourth quarter.

“For this cooperation, Vinatex set a target of USD 2-2.5 million in revenue for 2024 and aims to double this figure annually over the next five years. The primary goal is to meet the requirements of the US market, and from there, it will be easier to enter the markets of the EU, Japan, South Korea, and other markets worldwide”, shared Mr. Truong.

The Manh