A clothing stall in District 5’s An Đông Market. Clothing businesses in HCM City are struggling with reopening since domestic markets for these items are still affected by the COVID pandemic. — Photo nld.com.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City’s clothing businesses are struggling to reopen as the domestic market remains “frozen”, with low customer demand and business customers reluctant to buy clothing items and materials from each other.

Thái Trang, owner of a clothing and fashion business in District 5’s An Đông Market, which also supplies clothes to other fashion stores around HCM City and other provinces, told Người Lao Động (Labourer) newspaper that her market stall and factory had been closed since the end of May.

She has been struggling to find buyers since some of her customers in HCM City are still closed, are also struggling to sell, or are focusing on selling their own stock first.

Meanwhile, her customers in the Mekong Delta are worried about new COVID-19 outbreaks, thus refusing to buy from her.

Her business still has an abundance of summer clothing items produced before May.

“My 80 factory workers and nearly 10 vendor staff are eager to return to work, but these goods are hard to sell so it’s hard to resume production.”

Suppliers of textile and garment materials are also finding it difficult to sell their large amounts of stock.

Lý Thành Sinh, director of Minh Long Hưng Textile and Sewing JSC, told the newspaper that domestic businesses in the textile and garment industry are waiting for positive market developments.

He said the market is currently frozen and that customers visiting modern distribution channels such as malls and supermarkets are mostly buying essential goods, and wholesale clothing markets have not fully reopened.

Business customers from other provinces are reluctant to buy since transport of goods across provinces remains difficult.

“The domestic textile and garment industry has been hit just as heavily as the tourism industry. Demand stimulation is needed for the market to improve, but that requires locals to have money, and most locals are struggling to make a living and have to save money.”

Some large local businesses have been able to reopen, albeit slowly. Việt Thắng Jeans Co., Ltd. recently reopened 12 stores across Vincom malls around the country, offering large discounts to attract customers.

Phạm Văn Việt, general director of the company, said that revenue has been poor, with stores only making up to VNĐ2 million (US$88.9) per day, compared to VNĐ10-15 million per day year-on-year.

According to the Việt Nam Textile and Garment Association, local businesses have been focusing on expanding their domestic markets, but the fourth COVID-19 wave halted their plans. The pandemic situation is improving, so businesses are slowly resuming their goals.

HCM City, Việt Nam’s COVID epicentre, reopened on October 1 after months of strict lockdown measures, forcing many businesses to close down. VNS