Vietnam moves into second place in apparel export to US

Vietnam’s apparel exports to the US will increase more than 8 percent this year to make it the second-largest exporter after China, the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) in Vietnam has said.

Vietnam was in fourth place in the list of suppliers to the US last year behind Mexico and India.

Amcham said US import of apparel from Vietnam is likely to exceed US$5 billion this year compared to $4.6 million last year.

The US buys around 58 percent of the country’s apparel exports, more than twice as much as Europe and Japan combined.

It also represents 42 percent of Vietnam’s total exports to the US.

US apparel imports from other countries has decreased this year.

China’s export to the US was down 0.24 percent, Mexico’s was down 11 percent, and India and Indonesia’s was down 0.93 percent and 1.16 percent by September, the chamber said.

The only strong performer besides Vietnam was Bangladesh, with an increase of 8.4 percent.

US retail sales in October were the worst in 35 years as consumers continued to cut spending sharply, and if this trend continues through the end of the year, total US import of apparel could show a 20 percent year-on-year fall in the last quarter, Amcham said.

Reported by Minh Quang