US, significant investors in Vietnam textile and garment sector

Vietnam has seen significant inflow of investment from the US in its textile and garment sector in recent years, one of the many US investors is Huntsman Textile Effects, a supplier of dyes and chemicals under the US-based Huntsman Group, in anticipation of the potential from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Huntsman’s warehouse located in the Long Binh Industrial Park in the southern province of Dong Nai after only six months of operation since its opening in mid 2015 is operating at its full capacity of 250,000 tonnes.

President of Hunstman Textile Effects Paul G. Hulme said that the warehouse aims to help the company cut down on delivery time, and added that it is expandable to meet the domestic market demands in the context of the TPP becoming effective.

Meanwhile, in January 2016, Avery Dennison RBIS under the US Avery Dennison Group inaugurated its factory in the Long Hau Industrial Park in the Mekong Delta province of Long An with a total investment of 30 million USD.

According to the Group, the hi-tech factory aims to provide label solutions to renowned names in the domestic market, such as Uniqlo, North Face, Nike, or Adidas.

Director General of Avery Dennision RBIS, Deon Stander said that the investment project aims to contribute to the development of the textile and garment sector as well as the domestic market.

The TPP will boost textile and garment production in Vietnam, thus facilitating the growth of the Long An-based factory by 2020.

Previously in July 2015, Avery Dennision RBIS established a distribution centre in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, while building the factory in Long An at the same time.

President of the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association Nguyen Son highlighted the increasing demand for accessories for the recent growing domestic textile-garment sector.

The annual import value of the textile-garment accessories such as dyes and chemicals and labels hits billions of USD, he said, adding that the investment project will boost production and the development of the sector.

The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) estimates that Vietnam will earn some 51.4 billion USD from exporting to the US by 2020, of which the garment-textile sector is expected to account for 15.2 billion USD. The figure is estimated at 20 billion USD by 2025.

As of the end of 2015, the textile and garment sector received a record 2 billion USD in Foreign Direct Investment, according to the Vietnam Textile Association (VITAS).

There still remains a huge room for investors in the accessory industry to garment-textile, and leather and footwear in Vietnam.