EU, US buyers' order postponment on virus pressure hurts Vietnam’s textile industry

Though EU and US have not officially decided to suspend textile and garment imports from Vietnam, local firms are struggling as buyers cancel or postpone orders due to the pandemic.

Workers flatten a roll of garment at a factory in southern Long An Province. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.

When the EU and US closed the border, several buyers of Vietnamese garments from the markets announced to temporarily suspend import and Vietnamese authorities have not received official announcement over the suspension from the markets’ governments, a industry and trade official told Thanh Nien newspaper.

When the pandemic is spreading quickly, European countries have applied measures to prevent the disease by closing border. Non-EU citizens are not allowed to enter the area for at least the next 30 days.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the EU's regulations on disease control may not have a direct impact on goods import and export activities between Vietnam and the EU.

However, the actual epidemic control measures will affect the speed of goods transportation, causing delay. In addition, the supply, demand of the market will be affected by the pandemic.

The demand for purchasing non-essential goods such as textiles, footwear, furniture, phones is coming down. However, purchasing power for agricultural products and food is maintained.

In 2019, Vietnam exported 20.5 billion euros to the market by sea and 14.5 billion euros by air, and 671 million euros by railways, ministry said.

However, the Minister of Industry and Trade acknowledged that the postponement and cancellation of orders from two major EU and US markets forced the authorities to immediately calculate the plan and reduce damage to enterprises.

The US Embassy affirmed that no measures were taken to prevent market access of Vietnamese goods to the US.