Garment products are made at a factory in the central province of Thua Thien Hue. — VNA/VNS Photo Mai Trang

Viet Nam's garment and textile exports in the first four months fell 10 per cent year-on-year to US$10.63 billion and could fall much further as buyers cancelled orders due to COVID-19, according to the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas).

In April alone, exports of Vietnamese garment and textile products saw a month-on-month decline of 20 per cent to $2.3 billion, the association's statistics revealed.

Truong Van Cam, deputy chairman of Vitas, said these figures were anticipated to fall much further in May and June due to the majority of export orders being cancelled or delayed.

According to the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), the domestic textile and garment industry could lose up to 50 per cent of orders in May. Meanwhile, the recovery of supply amid falling demand might lead to a 20 per cent reduction in prices worldwide, it said.

The group also predicted that textile and garment exports would rebound in the third and fourth quarters with low-cost products accounting for the lion's share of turnover.

However, the nation’ 2020 apparel exports could decrease by 20 per cent over the previous year because of a drop of between 20-25 per cent was expected in global, said Vinatex’s general director Le Tien Truong.

Truong said it was the right time for textile and garment producers to source raw materials from countries that were part of the Viet Nam- European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) so that their products could meet the EVFTA’s “rules of origin” requirements and benefit from the tax reductions.

The firms should also hunt for small-scale orders with higher quality requirements, he said.

For Vinatex, in the second quarter, the group would continue to produce face masks and medical protective clothes to meet the high demand for these products in many foreign markets while ensuring stable operations to catch up with the customers’ demands once the market showed signs of recovery.

Last year, Viet Nam generated $39 billion from textile and garment exports, up 7.6 per cent year-on-year, according to Vitas.

The US remained the largest consumer of Vietnamese apparel products with $12.5 billion, up 9 per cent year-on-year and accounting for 39 per cent of total export turnover.

The EU was next with $4.4 billion, up 2 per cent or equivalent to 11.3 per cent of the total. China and Japan were the runners-up with $4.25 billion and $4.2 billion, up 7 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively. — VNS