These are the assessments of Mr. Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) in an interview with Lao Dong Newspaper.
Conflicts in the Middle East are causing raw material prices and production and logistics costs to tend to increase. According to you, how will these fluctuations affect production activities and business strategies in the coming time?
- The conflict in the Middle East is posing 3 main challenges.
Firstly, costs have increased. The price of some types of synthetic fibers such as polyester fiber or other types of fibers has increased by about 5-7%, even some types have increased by 10%.
Second is the cost of equipment. Some equipment manufacturers for the spinning, dyeing and garment industries have announced price increases of about 10%. However, the Hikari brand - the unit present at today's event - still pledged not to increase equipment prices.
Third is the market issue. In fact, Vietnam's textile and garment exports to the Middle East are not large, only about 600 - 700 million USD in the whole year. In the first two months of last year, they reached about 47 - 48 million USD. Therefore, the Middle East is not a key market, so we are not too concerned about the impact of this region on the entire industry.
According to you, how should Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises prepare to minimize risks from such geopolitical fluctuations?
- To solve these challenges, in my opinion, there are 5 major issues that businesses need to pay attention to. First, businesses need to comprehensively identify the global context to find their own development path that suits them.
Second is the application of new technologies. In the context of the rapidly changing global textile and garment market, the application of new technologies is becoming a key factor helping Vietnamese businesses improve competitiveness and minimize risks from external fluctuations. Investing in modern production lines, automation and process digitization not only helps optimize costs but also improve productivity and product quality. The application of modern equipment, automation, and robotization in production will help improve productivity and create differentiation in competition. Current new technology machine lines can help businesses optimize production processes and reduce costs.
The third is to improve proactiveness in production and business activities. Over the past time, despite facing many fluctuations from international conflicts, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have maintained stability and development.
Fourth, taking advantage of positive market signals. In the first two months of 2026, Vietnam's textile and garment industry exported nearly 7 billion USD, down less than 1% compared to the same period, mainly due to the long Lunar New Year holiday. In which, yarn exports reached more than 800 million USD, up over 10% compared to the same period. Garment accessories exports also increased by about 3.8%. Notably, imports of raw and auxiliary materials decreased by nearly 4%, showing an improvement in the trade balance of the industry.
Fifth is to improve competitiveness by producing orders with shorter delivery times, more competitive prices and increasingly stricter quality.
Thank you, sir!
