HCM CITY — The Vietnam Saigon Textile and Garment Industry / Fabric and Garment Accessories Expo (Saigon Tex) is under-way in HCM City, showcasing a wide range of cutting edge machinery and equipment for the textile and garment industry.

The 35,000sq.m expo has attracted nearly 1,200 exhibitors from 23 countries and territories, including Belgium, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Việt Nam.

It will feature several seminars, including talks on increasing the value of Vietnamese textile and garment products, investment opportunities in the textile and footwear sectors and trade barriers from the free trade agreement between the EU and Việt Nam, today’s global apparel and fashion market.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, Phan Chí Dũng, director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Light Industry Department, said textiles and garments are among the country’s biggest exports.

The garment and textile industry earned US$28.5 billion from exports last year, a year-on-year increase of 5.2 per cent. The US, the EU, Japan and South Korea were the largest buyers.

But its value addition was low compared to its counterparts in other countries, since enterprises mainly did sub-contracting work for foreign buyers, he said.

Another factor is that “we have not developed a supply chain for the industry,” he said.

Dũng said Saigon Tex 2017 would offer garment companies a gilt-edged chance to foster relations with foreign enterprises and explore investment opportunities, acquire technologies to increase local content in garment products and improve quality to meet the needs of local and international buyers.

This would add value to Vietnamese garment and textile products, contributing to the development of the industry, he said.

The event will run until tomorrow. — VNS