VN Express is carrying a feature on the garment sector focused on the gap between the levels of success experienced by local firms versus foreign-invested enterprises. It carries a number of key points regarding the challenges the sector currently faces. These include:
- There is an overemphasis in Vietnam on new ‘trending high-technology industries’, namely semiconductors, at the expense of already established sectors like garment making;
- Foreign buyers often dictate where garment manufacturers get their raw materials, these are more often than not imports and this has made it difficult for supporting industries to develop in Vietnam’s garment sector;
- Free trade agreements have put local firms at a disadvantage by giving better-resourced foreign firms greater market access; and
- Local firms have in the past focused on short term gains by expanding their garment assembly operations at the expense of investing in other parts of the supply chain.