Vietnam’s textile exports find it difficult to achieve targets

According to Vietnam’s “Customs News”, Vietnam’s textile export target in 2008 was US$9.5 billion, with exports of US$6.8 billion in the first nine months. Recently, the three most important markets for Vietnam’s textile exports: the United States (accounting for 55% of Vietnam’s total textile exports), Europe (accounting for 20%), and Japan (accounting for 14%) have all been affected by the financial crisis and their imports have decreased. Vietnam’s exports to the United States and Japan declined, and the growth rate to Europe fell back. The person in charge of the Vietnam Textile Association said that the value of textile exports in 2008 is expected to be approximately US$9-9.2 billion, which is difficult to achieve the original target of US$9.5 billion. Textile exports are expected to grow by approximately 5-7% in 2009, the lowest growth rate in recent years.