A booth at the SaigonTex and SaigonFabric 2023 that is being held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in HCM City until April 8. —VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The 2023 Vietnam Saigon Textile & Garment Industry – Fabric & Garment Accessories Expo opened in HCM City on April 5, enabling local and foreign producers to explore each other’s requirements and tie up.

It features more than 1,300 exhibitors from 21 countries and territories, including India, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Taiwan (China), Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Hong Kong (China), the US, Japan, France, Singapore, China, and Italy besides Việt Nam.

It is three times bigger than last year’s show, underlining the attractiveness of Việt Nam’s textile and garment industry, Cao Hữu Hiếu, general director of the Việt Nam National Textile and Garment Group (VINATEX), said.

The products on display in nearly 2,000 booths include a range of high-end machinery and equipment for weaving, dyeing and high-tech digital printing, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing systems and machines such as spectrophotometers and computerised embroidery machines, he said.

The event will feature seminars on industry-specific movements amid rising inflation and high interest rates; the cotton fibre market in times of economic turbulence and recommendations to businesses; innovative software for garment factories and solutions to improve productivity and quality while cutting production costs; and circular economy for the textile-garment industry towards sustainable development.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Thị Thắng said textile and garment is one of the key manufacturing industries in Việt Nam and among the country’s largest exporters, with exports topping US$44.5 billion last year, an increase of over 10 per cent.

The industry provides 2.5 million jobs with an average salary of $3,800 a year, she said.

“High exports notwithstanding, the value addition is not as expected. Besides, labour productivity is still low in comparison with other countries.”

The bottleneck in the industry is its raw material dependence, she said. 

It needs to integrate more with global supply chains and move up the value chain by integrating design and raw material production and distribution, she said.

To achieve the Government’s export target of $70 billion by 2030, the industry needs to change its vision and strategies, and focus on developing a complete textile and garment production chain on a large scale, use modern automated equipment with real-time automatic management, and promote green and environment-friendly production, she said. 

The expo offers a great opportunity for enterprises to access modern equipment and technologies and promote trade between Vietnamese and foreign companies, she added. 

Vũ Đức Giang, chairman of the Việt Nam Textile and Apparel Association, said the expo offers local manufacturers an opportunity to connect with raw material suppliers. 

“This is also an opportunity for the garment and textile industry to encourage foreign and domestic investors to invest in areas of short supply, especially in fabric production, weaving and knitting to reduce imports.”

Organised by VINATEX, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City branch and CP Exhibition, the expo at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre will go on until April 8. — VNS