Search Results for: Vietnamese

INTRODUCTION

Think of finishing and some consumers may conclude that integrating chemicals with or within fibres will always be the most effective way to create a performance or protective textile. But the reality is that applying coatings to textiles and yarns is anything but superficial as a finishing technique.…

INTRODUCTION

Without doubt, the world’s clothing and textile sector is undertaking a technical upgrade that is unprecedented in decades, with new digital systems offering automation and efficient internal controls. As these are worked into the businesses of brands, manufacturers and their suppliers, a new potential emerges, and that is linking these digital systems in a way that could revolutionise efficiencies within the supply chain.…

Covid-19 made 2020 an incredibly disruptive year for the global manufacturing sector and Vietnam’s paint and coatings sector did not escape the pandemic impact. This was despite that this south-east Asian country had an apparently low impact from the disease, with just 9,565 cases (as of June 9, 2021) and just 55 deaths from a 98 million population, albeit with a rash of new cases last month (June).…

EUROPEAN confectionery and sugar processing associations have appealed to the European Parliament not to reimpose market controls on the European Union’s (EU) sugar sector. MEPs have pressed for new restrictions during the ongoing negotiations about reforming the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).…

Vietnam’s textile-garment sector has been known for low labour productivity relative to China, but this has been changing as foreign-invested factories across the country bring in innovative processes and equipment. A key goal is taking advantage of Vietnam’s privileged access to major markets, especially the European Union (EU), with whom it has a free trade agreement.…

Brief:

This article provides an analysis of why the world’s largest regional trade deal (in population terms) – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – was signed last November (2020). It assesses China’s role in this important political and economic event, and how it reflects its relations with other signatory countries.…

Unprecedently severe bottlenecks in merchandise trades between Asia and the rest of the world caused by Covid-19 economic disruption is continuing to frustrate apparel retailers in Europe and the US. High levels of demand, port congestion and shortages of containers have been pushing up costs, with shipping rates for the Shanghai-Rotterdam and Shanghai-Los Angeles routes on January 21 being up 296% and 153% year-on-year respectively, according to UK-based maritime consultancy Drewry. …

NEW integrated paint manufacturing units in India with an annual production capacity of less than Indian Rupees INR500 million (USD6.6 million) will soon be exempt from securing prior environment clearance by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). This rule, covering plants with production facilities for resins and pigments, is expected to come into force early next year (2021) once the central government formalises and gazettes a new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification.…

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has released a white paper saying that the accounting profession needs to learn from the challenges of Covid-19, investing in boosting communication skills. This will enable accountants to be more effective pro-active trusted partners with their clients, able to adapt to flexible and remote working even after the pandemic subsides.…

THE CHINA Coatings Industry Association on September 14 published a draft standard for the manufacture and sale of antibacterial and anti-viral coatings – a key growth segment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The draft specifies the terms, definitions, requirements, test methods, inspection rules, labelling, marking, packaging and storage of coating products with antibacterial and antiviral properties.…

VIETNAM clothing industry insiders have told just-style that they are optimistic that the Vietnamese apparel supply chain will emerge strengthened from the Covid-19 crisis in 2021. This is despite an ongoing shortage of orders during 2020, only partly mitigated by switching production to make masks.…

The China National Coatings Industry Association (NCIA) on July 31 informed members that it has been told by the ministry of ecology and environment to investigate the production, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste in the coating industry and compile a management guide based on the investigation’s findings.…

Indonesia’s industry ministry launched an initiative in February (2020) aimed at eliminating lead used in paint made and sold in the country. It involves the Indonesian paint industry, is part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) project and is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), an international investment body.…

NATIONAL minimum wages have been rising in clothing manufacturing outsourcing hubs around the world, with low and medium-cost manufacturing centres increasing pay rates, as their governments seek to balance the need for export competitiveness with the value of industrial peace to avoid production disruption and the ability to retain experienced staff.…

IN southeast Asia’s humid and hot climate, the need for coatings to protect homes, businesses and public service buildings from mould is significant – expanding demand for anti-microbial coatings, especially as strong economic growth fuels construction.

The regional economic powerhouse that today’ Vietnam recorded slightly above 7% gross domestic product (GDP) growth for a second consecutive year, making it one of the best performers globally.…

IMPORTERS of paints into Japan have been given four time-windows in 2020 to secure ‘small volume permits’ under which coatings can be brought into Japan without any new chemical components being declared to regulators. This special exemption applies to imports of a product into Japan under one tonne per year, says the Japanese Chemical Substances Control Law.…

THE VIETNAMESE government’s Institute for Industry Policy and Strategy (IPS) has said that it will present a “review and roadmap for innovation and modernisation of textile technology” before the end of the year to speed up innovation in the sectors.

The roadmap will contain a comprehensive system of solutions including human resource training, investment promotion, preferential loans and changes to regulations of Vietnam’s National Technology Innovation Fund, a state financial institution that provides preferential loans, subsidised loan interest and loan guarantees as well as granting expenses to organisations, individuals and enterprises that carry out research, technology transfer and innovation.…

A sharp increase in imports of cars into Vietnam has underlined how this south-east Asian country of 96 million people, could become a major auto market, especially as Vietnamese drivers move from motorcycles to cars.

At present, the motorcycle is king in Vietnam.…

VIETNAM’S garment-makers have been worrying that a draft revised Labour Code will reduce their competitiveness, but four months after the draft was published there remains a strong chance it will never be enshrined in law.

The draft, which was officially submitted to the National Assembly in May 2019 for an envisioned passage in November, outlines a reduction of working hours from 48 hours per week to 44 hours which, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, would reduce the industry’s export value by at least USD3 billion per year, as businesses would struggle to recruit workers.…

Clothing brands from the USA who are switching purchasing to Vietnam from China because of the trade war need to smarten up – and understand how business with Vietnamese trading partners differs from working with their old Chinese suppliers. “The main issue is that many US buyers expect to do business in Vietnam the way they have been doing in China, but the business culture is very different and many find it impossible to work in Vietnam because they do not understand or accept the differences,” said Frank Vossen, who runs Seditex, a Ho Chi Minh City-based based sourcing consultancy, focused on quality control. …

THE CHINESE government has from September 1 imposed 5% additional retaliatory duties on US exports of paint to China, in the latest round of the trade war between the two countries. The new tariffs cover products such as polyester, acrylic, ethylene and polyeurathane powdered paints; acrylic, polymer and vinyl liquid paints; and more – see http://gss.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/zhengcefabu/201908/P020190823604938915640.pdf…

THE VIETNAMESE textile-garment sector has been benefitting from an impressive list of free trade agreements, but a lack of chemical engineers makes it difficult to satisfy their rules of origins. This especially applies to the European Union (EU)-Vietnam free trade agreement, whose terms were influenced by EU textile manufacturers who wanted to ensure that the deal did give a backdoor entrance to European markets for products based on China-finished fabric. …

SOUTH-EAST Asia’s beauty and personal care product market continues to grow, with more mature markets in the region demonstrating an increasing preference for natural products.

As might be expected, consumers in the wealthy city state of Singapore are especially keen to spend more money on lines with natural ingredients.…

TEXTILE and garment-makers in Vietnam need to continue investing in new technology to remain competitive and make their ability to meet growing demand sustainable, exports say. And there is concern that the capital required may be tough for small-and-medium-sized manufacturers to source.…

VIETNAMESE technical textile producers look set to capitalise on the ongoing trade war between the US and China with an increase in approaches from American automotive supply chain clients already being witnessed.

In May, the Trump regime increased tariffs on USD200 billion of imported Chinese goods, including many technical textiles and end-products made of technical textiles.…

INDONESIAN clothing and textile industry experts and the government say there is continued need to boost investment in creating efficient upstream supplies to enable the country to profit sustainably from growing demand for clothing export sales.

Textile and garment production grew 19% in the first quarter of this year (year-on-year) – but that was largely thanks to a strong performance from the clothing sector.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched a series of standards designed to help the cocoa industry ensure its products are both sustainably harvested and processed, but also traceable across their supply chains. Its ISO 34101 series is designed to promote good environmental and labour practices in a sector that involves sophisticated confectionery companies, global commodity traders and small farmers, often in poor countries, notably in west Africa.…

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) took effect in December 2018, incrementally bringing down import tariffs for Vietnamese garments in a market with 495 million consumers across 11 countries.

But Vietnamese garment-makers are struggling to reduce costs to deliver pricing that is competitive enough to make the most of CPTPP.…

VIETNAMESE cotton yarn-makers face a period of uncertainty due to raw material price volatility and the ongoing trade war between the US and China which threatens demand stability from Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers. China is the largest importer of Vietnamese yarn and accounts for more than 60% of Vietnam’s total yarn exports. …

BIOCIDAL coating products are some of the most demanding lines to make, sell and import for manufacturers and suppliers as far as regulatory compliance is concerned. Legitimate concerns among environmental health regulators to ensure that biocides only kill the micro- or larger organisms that they target, without unintended damaging side-effects, mean that biocide controls are constantly under review.…

THE MANUFACTURE, distribution and use of leaded paints in projects funded by Japan’s public sector has been banned from March (2019), at the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year. For instance, Japan’s ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology revised its building construction standards for educational facilities in April (2019), requiring manufacturers to use a non-leaded primer or sealer before applying antibacterial paint on surfaces such as gypsum board.…

THE LATEST data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs shows that the country’s garment and textile exports grew by 19% in the first two months of the year from January-February 2018, outpacing 2018’s full-year growth of 16% and serving as an early indicator that official export targets for 2019 may easily be met.…

THE JAPANESE nuclear sector may have the backing of its government, but a combination of technical challenges and public unpopularity is impeding plans to restore the country’s nuclear capacity towards its generation before the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

During a news conference on January 1, Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, was pessimistic about the industry’s future.…

THE GROWTH in fast fashion contracts struck between brands and Vietnam’s burgeoning outsourcing will boost demand for machinery and equipment in the Vietnamese textile sector as much as the new trade deals that have been struck by Hanoi, according to industry insiders.…

INCREASES in minimum wage rates are likely to be of significant concern to brands sourcing from south-east Asia in 2019, with pay on an upward trajectory – although governments’ approaches vary.

For some governments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, raising minimum wage serves as a populist measure (for instance by Thailand’s military government, whose supporters will face an election this year), while for others, an annual review is a statutory requirement, for example, in the Philippines.…

FINANCIAL institutions and other anti-money laundering reporting sectors within Vietnam have had to grapple, since January 1, with a revised Penal Code, which has changed how money laundering is defined in criminal law.

In its 2018, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), the USA State Department notes that this “revises the money laundering offence and adds criminal liability for legal persons involved in money laundering.”…

The Philippines’ latest national trade data, published on October 10, has suggested that a recent slump may be over for this southeast Asian country’s troubled garment export sector. It was considered a sunrise industry during the 1990s but has since fallen far behind its Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian counterparts.…

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) have endorsed a project named ‘Greening Vietnam’s textile sector through improving water management and energy sustainability’ with the declared aim of transforming the Vietnamese textile industry into a more environmentally friendly and sustainable one.…

As he took in the fourth Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last week, Kenneth K Han, managing director of Shints ETP Garment Plc, said he is optimistic over the country’s potential in the textile and apparel sector, despite many challenges.…

SOUTH Korea’s textile exports to Vietnam and the south-east Asian country’s garment exports to South Korea are forecast to register continued robust growth on the back of a range of free-trade agreements linking the two countries.

Data compiled by the department of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware in the USA, stressed how South Korea has for a long time been a leading supplier of textiles for Vietnam, last year (2017) accounting for 17.8% of Vietnam’s total textile imports in value terms, whereas Vietnam is quickly becoming the second-largest garment supplier for South Korea after China, with 30.9% of all imports in 2017 in value terms, up significantly from just 1.7% in 2007.…

WHILE Vietnamese government officials define the local textile and garment industry as among the economic sectors projected to have one of the highest growth rates in the country over the next 12 years, industry observers stress that more needs to be done to ensure this happens.…

Vietnamese officials say that last year’s shock withdrawal by the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been overcome as Vietnam has in any case entered into 16 other bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs).
This includes the forthcoming Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – which includes all the TPP partners bar the USA, and the European Union-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA), creating numerous opportunities for textile-garment investors.…

SOUTH-EAST Asia maybe a diverse and hence complicated region in which to market personal care products, but the growth in sales in all its countries make it an attractive target for beauty brands.

The Philippines is a case in point. The gross domestic product (GDP) of this 103 million people archipelago recorded 6.7% GDP growth in 2017, and the World Bank projects it to grow further at an annual rate of 6.7% in both 2018 and 2019, before settling at 6.6% in 2020.…

THE NEWLY signed 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could help Vietnam boost garment and textile exports to the lucrative Australian market significantly. But the Asian clothing makers may still face big challenges in taking market share in this mature market away from China, experts warn. …

The new realities of accelerating wage growth and the global shift towards placing smaller orders needs to be answered by Vietnam-based garment-makers by embracing technology-driven automation, according to ThreadSol, an India-based technology company. It supplies leading manufacturers in Vietnam with production software driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data.…

OFFICIAL projections for Vietnam’s garment and textile exports in 2018 are bright but input imports for garment and textile production were more than half of the value of garment and textile exports in 2017, highlighting the need for increased domestic sourcing, industry analysts say.…

THE VIETNAM Textile & Apparel Association (VITAS) warned that local governments in the country are not licensing textile and dyeing projects over pollution concerns. It has added in comments to Vietnamese media and that this reluctance may prevent the clothing sector from satisfying origin rules of the upcoming the Comprehensive & Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).…

When Apple Inc released its iPhone X in November 2017, it took about a week until news broke that Vietnamese security firm Bkav cracked the phone’s revolutionary facial recognition security lock, Face ID, with a composite mask of 3D-printed plastic, silicone, makeup and simple paper cut-outs.…

VIETNAMESE textile manufacturers should invest in new machinery so they can take advantage of the incoming free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) say German trade and industry representatives.

Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (Verband Deutscher Maschinen-und Anlagenbau (VDMA) expects the forthcoming EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA) to lift Vietnamese garment exports to the EU with the help of more imported machinery to boost textile production.…

The official publication of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nhân Dân, has urged Vietnamese enterprises to increase the product value of textiles and garments by improving human resource development programmes, adopting advanced technologies and brand development.

In an unsigned editorial published in early March, Nhân Dân criticised Vietnam’s textile and garment sector noting that while it has reached double-digit growth rates in recent years, with a total export turnover exceeding USD31 billion in 2017, the products’ added value has been low, accounting for only 5%-10% of total worth.…

VIETNAM’S textile industry is being urged to adopt “cost effective and readily available” eco-friendly technologies to enhance its green credentials and reduce both production costs and air pollution. 

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Vietnam Low Emission Energy Programme (V-LEEP) and the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) have joined forces to encourage environmental good practice in the industry.…

Vietnamese textile and garment industry officials have capped a bumper 2017 with forecasts for further robust export growth this year if it can overcome challenges from neighbouring country textile sectors by investing in skills, equipment and automation. 

Le Tien Truong, general director of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex), predicting a year-on-year increase of 10% in export value, to USD34 billion, from 10.23% annual growth in 2017 when exports totalled USD31 billion.…

NEW Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signal a promising outlook for the Vietnamese textile industry with tariff concessions providing the biggest stimulus to figures, according to the country’s trade officials.

Attendees at the 17^th Vietnam International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition, held late last month (November 22-25th) in Ho Chi Minh City, heard the deals will impact significantly on the national textile sector.…

AS a developing country with a fast-growing, cash-based economy, Vietnam presents strong potential for money laundering and other financial crimes. Weak regulations and poor governmental oversight of the financial sector add to the challenges the country faces in combatting financial crimes.…

IT is no surprise that Singapore has a significant exposure to money laundering and terrorist finance. It is one of the world’s largest financial centres, a major free-trade hub and has neighbours where corruption and Islamic extremist insurgent groups remain are real threats.…

HIGH-END internationally-focused brands are seeking out Vietnam’s traditional artisans to source orders of high-quality, handmade textiles, moving away from the low-cost, mass-produced materials often associated with the country’s textile and garment industry.

These labour-intensive products include indigo-dyed fabrics, hand-woven textiles, and lacquer silk, all of which are created using traditional methods by skilled craftspeople.…

A NUMBER of critical human resources hurdles need to be overcome if Vietnam is to reach its goal of one million successful start-up enterprises by 2020, experts have warned.

Vietnam aims to become a key start-up nation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU)-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA), on which negotiations concluded December 2, 2015, will open up “huge business opportunities” for Vietnamese garment companies, business experts agreed last month (September). They were speaking at an event jointly organised by EU business federation BusinessEurope, EuroCham [European Chamber of Commerce] Vietnam and the EU-Vietnam Business Network.…

VIETNAM’S textile and clothing and textile sector is looking to sell more product into Asian markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, while solidifying its traditional export bases like the US and EU, the latest trade data indicates. 

Last year, Vietnam exported USD2.28 billion’s worth of clothing and textiles to South Korea – a 7.45% gain compared with 2015, according to Vietnam customs data analysed by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). …

CAMBODIA’S tripartite talks that will set a new minimum wage limit for 2018 for the country’s garment and textile sector opened yesterday (Sept 25).

The three parties, representing government, industry and unions, however proposed three different monthly wage floors. Cambodia’s ministry of labour and vocational training suggested a minimum clothing and footwear sector monthly wage of USD162.67 and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia proposed USD161 – but unions have pushed for USD176.25-a-month, up from the current USD153 (and USD140 in 2016), Sokny Say, secretary general of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) told just-style. …

THE IMPOVERISHED south-east Asian kingdom of Cambodia shares porous borders with the significantly more dynamic economies of Thailand and Vietnam, is notorious for corruption, has a large casino sector and generates significant earnings from illegal exports.

This precarious mixture of factors has since 2012 consecutively earned Cambodia a spot in the Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index (from the Basel Institute on Governance) top-10 risk jurisdictions for money laundering.…

MOST of East Asia’s dynamic economies have traditionally relied on expats and there are no readily discernible signs that this is decreasing.

In Vietnam, which has been benefitting from production lines migrating from China amid rapidly rising labour and land costs there, increasing the number of expats six-fold since 2004 to almost 100,000 in 2016, the shortage of engineers and managers can be seen throughout most sectors.…

VIETNAM is taking a more active role in helping neighbouring Laos raise the quality of its workforce skills. The two countries have close political ties and similar levels of development, with the World Bank saying Laos had USD2,150 gross national income per capita in 2016, and Vietnam – USD2,050.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU)-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA), on which negotiations concluded December 2, 2015, will open up “huge business opportunities” for Vietnamese garment companies, business experts agreed earlier this month at an event jointly organised by EU business federation BusinessEurope, EuroCham [European Chamber of Commerce] Vietnam and the EU-Vietnam Business Network.…

AS the growth in Vietnam’s middle class generates wealthier and more educated consumers in this country with a population of 95 million, growing domestic demand for locally-produced fabrics is pushing the country’s textile industry away from focusing entirely on exports.

While demand for inexpensive, imported clothing still exists in Vietnam, even cost-conscious consumers are beginning to seek out new styles and better quality in their fashion purchases, market traders have told WTiN.com.…

SOUTH east Asia’s countries are as culturally diverse as those in Europe, and far more contrasting in economic development, so it is no surprise that their personal care product markets differ in their tastes and priorities. Fortunately, with the region’s largely emerging market economies still on a robust growth trajectory, and its more developed economies solidifying their wealth, the usual personal care product sale trend is one of expansion, albeit unevenly and sometimes with set-backs.…

THE VIETNAMESE government has said it wants to shift the country’s clothing manufacturing sector from its current low-cost model to an added value sector that includes design and branding.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc is behind the change in direction, releasing a government decision signalling this formal policy change, although details of specific actions are still awaited.…

IN east Asia’s complex ethnic mix of peoples, the need to avoid racial discrimination which may undermine social stability is understood clearly by governments and businesses. And while experts agree that progress is being made is tackling this potentially corrosive personnel problem, more certainly could be done.…

WITH the Asia-Pacific continuing to be the hub of global industrial growth and also a nexus of technological innovation, the region’s non-wovens sector has been making the most of these benefits, increasing both output and quality.

The Chinese nonwoven fabric sector, for instance, has been growing steadily, with 8-10% year-on-year growth in recent years, surpassing the average growth rate of the country’s entire textile industry.…

There is no sign that Taiwanese textile investors will rethink their commitment to Vietnam six months after US President Donald Trump pulled America out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that would have greatly boosted Vietnamese garment exports to the USA.…

Amidst growing interest in Vietnam from international textile, garment and electronics companies, the country’s logistics infrastructure has been undergoing a much-needed upgrade, but the trajectory has been bumpy, say experts.

The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index Country Scorecard has noted that Vietnam’s logistics situation improving until 2014 only to fall back in 2016.…

VIETNAM is working hard to develop an upstream parts manufacturing base, but this goal is proving hard to achieve and meanwhile, regional liberalization through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is threatening the country’s auto assembly segment.

In many ways, it is crunch time for Vietnam’s auto sector.…

Vietnam has an amendment to its criminal code under way that would make the crime of illegal dismissal of employees punishable with a jail term of up to one year. That textile executives could be affected by this draconic measure has followed the Vietnam government adopting a policy principle of “piercing the corporate veil” on January 1 this year.…

THE EUROPEAN Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) is predicting that trade in clothing and textile products between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) will grow significantly once the free trade agreement struck between the two jurisdictions comes into force next year (2018).…

One month after staunch free-trade opponent Donald Trump became US President there are many policy decisions still to be confirmed and clarified to get a full idea of the impact his presidency will have on the trade in technical textiles. His accession comes during an unstable time for international trade – it is arguably even less clear how the UK’s planned exit from the EU will work out for the sector.…

AS the Vietnamese textile sector gets closer to a potential export boom triggered by the near-certain ratification of the European Union (EU)-Vietnam free-trade agreement in 2018, business advocates in Hanoi have called for a loosening of machinery import restrictions.

Notably, the textile industry has been urging the Vietnamese government to amend its ministry of science and technology Circular No 23, issued in 2015, on the import of used machinery, equipment and manufacturing lines.…

As US President Donald Trump on January 23 pulled America out from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with an executive order, he signalled he will instead ask Asian TPP members for bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs). This includes countries such as Vietnam that rely on apparel and textile exports.…

IT will take at least one entire generation before Cambodia can fill a serious gap in the country’s skilled and professional labour force, an industry expert has warned – the problem dates to the Khmer Rouge dictatorship, whose brutal Marxists massacred educated Cambodians.…

THE US Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has called on the new American administration of President Donald Trump to work hard to negotiate new bilateral trade deals with Asian markets now he has formally pulled his country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.…

As US President Donald Trump has been wasting no time carrying out his campaign pledges to undo long-standing American trade ties, the Asian apparel industry and the US retailers it supplies have ample reasons to be on edge.

Signs are particularly worrisome for apparel players sourcing from Vietnam, a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the unratified 12-nation deal that will now not include the USA after Trump extracted America from its commitments via a January 23 presidential memorandum.…

Textile and garment makers in Vietnam are overcoming the initial shock of US president-elect Donald Trump in late-October making clear he would issue an executive order to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the day he takes office.

Vietnam, as one of the 12 TPP signatory countries, had been expected to gain greatly from the trade deal, as its garment exports would have earned 0% tariff treatment in the US market compared to a current average of 32%.…

2016 – Winners and losers

RETAILERS & BRANDS

WINNERS

US-based sportswear brand Under Armour delivered its 26th consecutive quarter of 20%-plus revenue growth in the third quarter of 2016, with sales increases across all divisions. Net sales were up 22% in the third quarter to USD1.47bn.…

HUMAN resources specialists are advising Vietnam’s government and private sector to get smarter over their personnel policies if it wants to maintain the productivity improvements that have helped pull this southeast Asian country out of poverty.

A report released in October (2016) by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) on the issue has cited research from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to highlight Vietnam’s strong record: the report notes that Vietnam’s productivity grew 184% from 1991-2012, far surpassing Thailand’s 85%, Singapore’s 81% and Malaysia’s 80% growth over the same period.…

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the Australian meat sector’s development organisation, has welcomed the first large-scale Vietnamese agricultural investment in its country – a Australian dollar AUD18 million (USD13.6 million) cattle station buy by An Vien Pastoral Holding and Agriculture Company in the Northern Territory.…

While the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) had made the future of textile manufacturing in Vietnam look rosy in much of 2016, Japanese businesses eyeing investments in this south-east Asian emerging market do not seem to fear the trade deal’s likely demise under United States President-elect Donald Trump.…

Vietnam’ clothing and textile industry has been assessing the impact of losing an anticipated huge garment export boost under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) now that US president-elect Donald Trump has promised to sign an executive order pulling out of the 12-nation trade deal.…

Vietnam’s National Salary Council may have increased the country-wide minimum wage by the smallest proportion in a decade of such rises (7.3% for 2017), but the country’s clothing manufacturers are still warning this is a hike too far.

The Vietnam Textile & Apparel Association (VITAS) has opposed the increase.…

THE ASIA-PACIFIC region has been regarded as the workshop of the world for most of the 21^st century, and this is especially true for the technical textile sector, where output has continued to grow, partly fuelled by growing regional demand.…

A slowdown in liberalising Myanmar’s construction industry so far this year has not soured the positive outlook of paints and coatings companies on this emerging market’s potential, according to industry experts.

Few new construction projects have come online in 2016, as the market works to digest the surplus of units begun during a boom following the 2011 transition to civilian rule, which was finally completed in March (2016).…

The Vietnamese textile sector may face challenges thanks to a newly approved national minimum wage, industry insiders say, with specialists suggesting different rates for higher skilled workers in upstream suppliers, but other worrying about a loss of competitiveness in clothing manufacturing.…

THE UNITED States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has predicted that Vietnam’s position as a key supplier of clothing, and hence a buyer of textiles, will remain strong, even if the USA fails to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. According to the 2016 USFIA Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study, 70% of respondent companies said they will increase sourcing from Vietnam in the next two years if their sourcing volume from China decreases.…

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) has told WTiN that it strongly supports a proposal from Vietnam’s ministry of industry and trade to develop large textile industrial zones to attract investment for fabric and yarn production, as well as dyeing.…

The Indonesian Textiles Association (API – Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia) has told WTiN.com that it enthusiastically endorses the opening of negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Indonesia to forge a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) free trade deal.

The goal of the talks announced in July will be to create an agreement that goes beyond traditional agreements that focus on duty and quota abolition, to include removing non-tariff barriers through regulatory mutual recognition and harmonisation.…

MINIMUM wage reviews are underway in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries of Vietnam and Cambodia, with employers seeking to keep payrolls low to help them compete in international trade.

Vietnam’s National Wage Council on August 2 proposed increasing the country’s regional minimum wage (RMW) by 7.3%, the lowest level in nearly a decade – rates vary according to regions across the country.…

WITH personnel managers in Britain and continental Europe worrying about the impact of the UK’s Brexit vote to quit the European Union (EU), human resources experts in the 10 country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc are facing the opposite challenge, an increase in freedom of movement of workers.…

Vigorous expansion of export-oriented manufacturing and construction in 2015 spurred the fastest GDP growth in Vietnam in seven years, at 6.7% year-on-year, according to the Asian Development Bank. And although coatings consumption correlates generally well with economic growth, in Vietnam the 2015 year-on-year coatings production increase outpaced general economic expansion – it rose 11.1% year-on -year in 2015, to Vietnamese dong VND13 trillion (USD587 million), according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…

Thailand-based automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are set to benefit from the expansion of an existing auto tariff-free zone to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in 2018. These would then join this ASEAN-linked trading zone’s member countries Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to forge an ASEAN-wide automotive market bloc.…

VIETNAM’S textile sector faces significant challenges as it seeks to profit sustainably from new commercial opportunities offered by international trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a major industry conference has been told. The Vietnam Textile Summit 2016 was held from June 29-30, at The Reverie Saigon, an upscale hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).…

South-east Asia is a region that has sharp contrasts in economic development, from between the wealth of Singapore to countries such as Myanmar, where poverty is endemic and consumer markets are relatively undeveloped.

Such contrasts pose challenges for personal care product companies seeking regional strategies to tap the markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 10 countries, whose cosmetics suppliers have to comply with the standards of the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive, which was modelled on European Union legislation.…

Asian paint and coatings manufacturers are set to benefit from the expansion of an existing automotive tariff-free zone spanning Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.…

Japanese engagement in Vietnam’s textile and garment sectors continues to strengthen discernibly, as the southeast Asian manufacturing centre is set to become a global clothing exporting powerhouse under the newly concluded free trade agreements. These include the Vietnam-European Union free trade deal (EVFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which will give Vietnamese exporters better access to American markets.…

CONCERN is growing that foreign direct investment (FDI) within Vietnam, including in the textile sector, needs to be tempered with efforts to deter unlimited environmental pollution. Public opinion in Vietnam – important even within this one party officially communist state – has been riled by mass fish deaths off Vietnam’s central coast, with environmentalists blaming a toxic leak from a steel mill in April receiving investment from Taiwan, a key investor in Vietnam’s textile sector.…

DETAILS have been released about knitwear and yarn tariffs that will be scrapped regarding products exported and imported between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) under their new trade deal. The full text of the agreement struck last August (2015) has been released and shows how the EU is prepared to remove its tariff barriers to Vietnam knitwear exports.…

THE VIETNAMESE textile industry and government is planning to overcome poor productivity and a serious shortage of textile and dyeing materials to better leverage Vietnam’s inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.

According to an estimation by the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), Vietnam will need up to USD15 billion’s investment to bring its mills and dyeing houses to a point where local textile sourcing can facilitate compliance with the TPP’s rules of origins, as regards domestic sourcing.…

Vietnam’s ministry of finance will remove price controls on milk products for children under six-years-old by the beginning of next year. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh and minister of finance Dinh Tien Dung in early March told the local media that the move has been sparked by concessions Vietnam has made in free-trade agreements (FTAs) such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its recent trade deal with the European Union (EU).…

Details have been released explaining how the European Union’s (EU) will open up its markets to rare earths from Vietnam under a trade deal struck last August (2015), despite concerns the country is a conduit for smuggled earths from south China.…

Details have been released explaining how the European Union’s (EU) non-ferrous metal sector will boost its access to the key emerging market of Vietnam, under a trade deal struck last August (2015). The full text of the agreement has now been released (on February 1) and shows how tariffs that will be scrapped regarding non-ferrous metals, as well as related inputs and products exported and imported between Vietnam and the EU.…

DETAILS of the European Union’s (EU) trade agreement with Vietnam have been released that show how the deal could boost the outsourcing of clothing manufacture by EU brands in this key south-east Asian emerging industrial player. The full text of the agreement has now been released (on February 1), and attention will turn to the ratification process, which will happen in the European Parliament for the EU and the Vietnamese National Assembly.…

DETAILS have been released about tariffs to be scrapped regarding food and drink products exported and imported between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) under a trade deal struck last August (2015). The full text has now been released and shows how Vietnam’s emerging market of 89 million people will be opened to the EU’s food manufacturers.…

VIETNAM as almost a “sole supplier of textile products” among Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries is banking on the TPP deal to expand its textile market share, according to VITAS – the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association. Moreover, a spokesperson from the association said that “many Hong Kong, South Korean, and Australian firms are developing and planning major textiles FDI [foreign direct investment] in Vietnam to produce yarn and fabric, the supporting textiles industry for apparel production.”…

Free trade agreements with the United States and Europe are essential if the Indonesian textile market is to flourish and compete with strong regional rivals, according to analysts and sector leaders.

The Indonesian government has said it wants to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement agreed by 12 Pacific Rim countries last October (2015).…

Hanoi-based lawyers serving foreign white-collar expatriates employed in the Vietnamese textile and garment sectors have welcomed the country’s latest easing of work permit regulations but are somewhat divided on its significance. According to a decree approved on February 3 by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, foreigners with bachelor’s degrees and at least three years of experience working in their respective fields are no longer required to obtain work permits in Vietnam, if they visit for no more than 30 days at a time, and no more than 90 days per year.…

VIETNAM’S free trade deal with the European Union (EU) includes a commitment that cars sold in its country should follow international vehicle regulations. These technical rules are set by the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and are generally written into EU type approval legislation.…

Details have been released explaining how the European Union’s (EU) steel sector will boost its access to the key emerging market of Vietnam under a trade deal struck last August (2015). The full text of the agreement has now been released (on February 1) and shows how tariffs that will be scrapped regarding iron and steel, as well as related inputs and products exported and imported between Vietnam and the European Union (EU).…

DETAILS have been released about tariffs that will be scrapped regarding paints and coatings and related ingredients, exported and imported between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) under a trade deal struck last August (2015). The full text of the agreement has now been released and shows how Vietnam is prepared to remove its tariff barriers to EU exports of paints and coatings, many of which are important to promote its economic development.…

VIETNAM as almost a “sole supplier of textile products” among Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries is banking on the TPP deal to expand its textile market share, according to VITAS – the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association. Moreover, a spokesperson from the association said that “many Hong Kong, South Korean, and Australian firms are developing and planning major textiles FDI [foreign direct investment] in Vietnam to produce yarn and fabric, the supporting textiles industry for apparel production.”…

MANY garment manufacturers in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) block will have to cope with raises to the minimum wages in 2016. The move comes as ASEAN launches its Economic Community (ASEAN EC) on December 31, easing labour movement across the region.…

Although the final details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement have yet to be agreed, it is all but certain that the TPP’s free-tariff treatment for Vietnamese garments will see substantial amounts of yarn being shipped from US textile mills to garment factories in Vietnam, with the resulting clothing returning to the USA as finished ‘Made in Vietnam’ products.…

VIETNAM’S beef and pork product imports from the European Union (EU) have increased 70 times in 2014 when compared with 2012, industry experts have said. The unprecedented rise comes ahead of an upcoming EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which may increase imports further once it is finalised.…

Sustainability improvements in the Asian outsourced clothing and textile sector are far from being the sole preserve of China. In Cambodia, Tonlé, a sustainable garment-making firm based in Phnom Penh, obtains 90% of its fabric from factory cut-out and 10% through sustainable suppliers to make a zero-waste clothing line.…

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an increasingly dynamic and affluent 10-member bloc with a population half the size if China’s, plans to achieve a single aviation market (SAM) by the end of 2015 as a part of its broader ambition to launch its ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).…

Vietnam held its annual Vietnam Saigon Textile & Industry Expo in combination with the Vietnam Saigon Garment & Accessories Machinery Expo from April 9-12, the double event serving as a barometer for the sectors’ high expectations about the country joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.…

A GREY market trade in bovine meat products between India and China is flourishing, globalmeatnews.com can reveal. Meanwhile, the Indian government is pressing China to allow official access for Indian beef, pork, goat and lamb exports, which it claims have been blocked on alleged health grounds.…

THE CHINESE knitting sector facing transformation, being challenged by lacklustre economic performance in its key export markets, fast-rising domestic labour costs, as well as a determined government crusade for energy savings and emission reduction. The industry is, in general, cautiously optimistic about tackling these challenges and experts agree that if knitwear producers stick to their strategy of adding value through more sophisticated automation, they will manage to retain manufacturing supremacy over their south Asian and southeast Asian peers.…

The Hong Kong unit of Luthai Textile Co Ltd, China’s leading producer of yarn-dyed fabric and shirts manufacturing, has informed its shareholders of a plan to invest USD150 million building a new Vietnam-based textile plant. The factory, whose location has yet to be disclosed, would have 60,000 spindles, with an annual output of 30 million metres of yarn-dyed fabric.…

INDIAN textile and clothing supply exporters are failing to seize backward linkage market share in Vietnam because of chronic delivery delays, a Vietnam buyer has claimed to WTiN.com. “We are happy with Indian yarn both price- and variety-wise, but the Indians are terrible lead time-wise,” said Sim Thai Ha Phuong, vice director of Thai Son S P Co Ltd, a medium sized knitwear manufacturer in Ho Chi Minh City.…

INDIAN textile and clothing supply exporters are failing to seize backward linkage market share in Vietnam because of chronic delivery delays, a Vietnam buyer has claimed to WTiN.com. “We are happy with Indian yarn both price- and variety-wise, but the Indians are terrible lead time-wise,” said Sim Thai Ha Phuong, vice director of Thai Son S P Co Ltd, a medium sized knitwear manufacturer in Ho Chi Minh City.…

A BOOM in Australian live cattle exports to Vietnam look set to continue this year, thanks to favourable currency conditions; the depletion of the Vietnamese herd by exports to neighbouring China; and increasing demand for fresh quality beef from Vietnamese consumers.…

With 685 million wet pounds of coatings sold for USD730 million in 2013, the Vietnam market consumed only a tiny fraction of Asia-Pacific region’s total of 36 billion wet pounds sold for USD50 billion that year, according to Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney, Inc, a New Jersey, USA-based consulting firm for the polymer and chemical industries.…

Low cotton prices and land scarcity may impede a long term cotton production expansion plan launched by the Vietnamese government in 2010, an industry expert has told WTiN.com.

Vietnam is a global powerhouse in textile, garment and apparel manufacturing, but it relies heavily on cotton imports, with only 1% of the cotton used in the country produced domestically, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to allow individual European Union (EU) member states to reject the cultivation of genetically modified food on their territories, independent of what the situation is at EU level. This law, negotiated with the EU Council of Ministers, leaves room to national governments to ban the GMOs from being produced in their countries for other reasons than environmental or health risks.…

The panoramic view from D22, a chic new restaurant and skybar, offers the local executive Deloitte has tapped to head up their Cambodian expansion a quick insight into a rapidly developing Phnom Penh. Once a low-lying urban sprawl, Cambodia’s capital city has begun to develop a skyline, with a handful of high-rise towers already in place and several more green-tarped construction projects underway.…

The panoramic view from D22, a chic new restaurant and skybar, offers the local executive Deloitte has tapped to head up their Cambodian expansion a quick insight into a rapidly developing Phnom Penh. Once a low-lying urban sprawl, Cambodia’s capital city has begun to develop a skyline, with a handful of high-rise towers already in place and several more green-tarped construction projects underway.…

THE RESPONSIBILITIES of Singapore accountants to report suspicions that their clients maybe involved in money laundering or terrorist finance have become tougher since November 1. New guidelines released by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) have strengthened requirements for accounting firms to establish anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) controls.…

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled that aspects of US anti-dumping measures on frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam break world trade laws. In a report dated November 17 this year, the WTO said that “certain of the measures…are inconsistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Anti-Dumping Agreement.”…

MANUFACTURERS and industry experts visiting this year’s Vietnam International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition were concerned that this year’s anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam might damage business relations, but were prepared to put the problems behind them.

Ryan Lin, a specialist of the business division of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), told WTiN.com…

THE CLOSE relationship between the textile sectors of Vietnam and South Korea could be intensified by the end of the year, with the two countries’ governments saying they want to conclude a bilateral trade deal this year.

Talks have been ongoing since September 2012.…

Although the outgoing European Commission president José Manuel Barroso on his late-August visit to Vietnam presented the planned European Union (EU)-Vietnam free-trade agreement (FTA) as a nearly finalised deal – and Vietnamese state media predict the signing will happen in October – the Vietnamese textile industry is still unsure about the FTA’s potential impact.…

When Adrian Bressan started working in the Australian knitwear industry 50 years ago, there were hundreds of competing factories in Australia – but today, his A&B Knitwear, in Melbourne is one of only few left. “With all the cheap imports, the other knitters closed down,” Mr Bressan said.…

The Vietnamese textile and garment industry has yet to prepare comprehensively for the onset of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Community (AEC) next year. “We are not aware of any AEC impact studies, and I cannot even provide an educated guess,” an otherwise helpful representative of a Vietnamese textile association in Ho Chi Minh City told WTiN.com.…

VIETNAM’S production of powder coatings and liquid protective coatings has in the past been a small part of the country’s paint and coatings output – but foreign investment maybe about to change that. The country has around 80 coatings manufacturers, who have together manufactured a relatively meagre 30,870 tonnes of these specialist products, generating USD91 million’s worth of revenue in 2012, according to the most recent data made available by market researcher Frost & Sullivan.…

EXHIBITORS at two key international textile and shoe exhibitions in Vietnam have spoken personally to WTiN.com on the value of investing time and money appearing at such shows.

The Vietnam International Exhibition on Garment Manufacturing Equipment and Fabric 2014 was organised concurrently with the International Shoes and Leather Exhibition 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City from July 16 to 18.…

ACCORDING to conventional wisdom, Vietnam’s near-certain inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will clearly be a major boon to the Southeast Asian country’s textile industry. The planned multinational free-trade zone encompasses 12 countries that together make up 40% of global gross national product (GNP).…

A major Chinese clothing and textile company has told just-style that the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is a key reason for a planned investment in Vietnam. In early March, (2014), northern Nam Dinh province, near Hanoi, issued an investment licence for the Jiangsu Yulun Textile Group to build a factory of fabric, textile, dying with total registered capital of USD68 million.…

A SUPERVISOR of an American company in Vietnam’s Binh Duong Province has told just-style how she saw demonstrations against foreign ownership of clothing and textile companies turn into ugly riots. But industry insiders in other Asian countries claim the resulting damage will not seriously deter future foreign investment.…

Foreign companies setting up production bases in Vietnam will have to take additional care when hiring staff because of a new labour law decree, a union official has told just-style.

Dr Tran Thi Thanh Ha from the labour relations department of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour stressed that the new ‘Decree No 03/2014’, which came into force on March 15 (2014) would increase controls strengthened last year by another law (Decree No.…

Taiwan textile industry insiders have told WTiN.com that the recent riots in Vietnam will not deter future investment in this key emerging market outsourcing country.

Serious attacked on Taiwanese textile businesses in Vietnam were suffered when on May 13 and 14 local mobs – protesting against China’s recent installation of an oil rig in disputed waters in the South China Sea – ransacked and torched hundreds of foreign-owned factories.…

At this year’s Vietnam Textile & Garment Industry Expo, which bills itself as “the biggest and the most important event in the textile and garment industry of Vietnam”, only 60 of the 502 companies exhibiting were Vietnamese. WTiN.com visited the show, in Ho Chi Minh City, last month noting that 283 exhibitors were Chinese companies, with fabric, accessories and machinery manufacturers of 22 other countries making up the rest.…

Vietnam’s languishing cotton development master plan could be given a new lease of life if a new government bio-safety certificate programme takes off this year as planned, opening the way for farmers to grow genetically-modified (GM) high yield pest resistant cotton.…

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) scientific committee has sounded an alarm about potential health concerns regarding the use of nano-silver in clothing – the substance often used as an antibacterial in knitted socks.

The EU’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks has noted studies indicating that “nanosilver exposure leads possibly to genotoxicity, changes in activity of the immune system and an accumulation of silver in spleen, liver and testes.”…

SOURCING in Asia has been a merry-go-round for many buyers in recent years. As the era of low-cost Chinese manufacturing draws more or less to a close, several countries have leveraged their low cost labour to capture a significant volume of the world’s lower end knitwear manufacturing, while others have sought to extend their reach into higher value-added manufacturing by investing in infrastructure and training.…

SOURCING in Asia has been a merry-go-round for many buyers in recent years. As the era of low-cost Chinese manufacturing draws more or less to a close, several countries have leveraged their low cost labour to capture a significant volume of the world’s lower end knitwear manufacturing, while others have sought to extend their reach into higher value-added manufacturing by investing in infrastructure and training.…

A former executive of Vietnam’s largest bank by capital is beginning a life term in jail after admitting to a near Vietnamese dong VND4 trillion fraud (USD190 million).

Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, 36, was sentenced this week after she faked company stamps and forged signatures to steal from companies, banks and private persons, who made loans and deposits with Vietnam Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) on the promise of very high interest rates.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

A former executive of Vietnam’s largest bank by capital is beginning a life term in jail after admitting to a near Vietnamese dong VND4 trillion fraud (USD190 million).

Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, 36, was sentenced this week after she faked company stamps and forged signatures to steal from companies, banks and private persons, who made loans and deposits with Vietnam Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) on the promise of very high interest rates.…

WITH the 2015 deadline approaching for the establishing a common market within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesian textile manufacturers need professional competency standards to be harmonised across the 10 member countries, according to the country’s peak textiles association.…

THE LAST few years have brought significant changes to the apparel sourcing landscape in Asia. The era of Chinese low-cost apparel manufacturing is well behind us, and several countries have stepped up to claim their part of the manufacturing pie.

Apparel industry analysts say that although China’s dominance continues, a clear segmentation in Asia is now taking place.…

WITH the 2015 deadline approaching for the establishing a common market within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesian textile manufacturers need professional competency standards to be harmonised across the 10 member countries, according to the country’s peak textiles association.…

WHILE American textile producers fear the potential impact of the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) regional free trade agreement, it is smaller and medium-sized Vietnamese producers who really need to be worried. That is the view of

Chris Walker, marketing manager for Thai Son S.P.…

ORGANISERS of the 13th Vietnam International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition last week (October 24 to 27) noted a surging attendance, but some visitors suggested a broader range of exhibitors could pay dividends.

Staged at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh Exhibition & Convention Centre, the event brought 210 textile machinery and fabric and accessories exhibitors from 10 Asian countries into contact with an estimated 10,000 visitors.…

Vinamilk (Vietnam Dairy Products Joint-Stock Co.), Vietnam’s largest dairy producer, has announced plans to open a dairy plant in neighbouring Cambodia by July 2015.  

Vinamilk will hold a 51% stake of the 2.7-hectare plant in the capital Phnom Penh through a joint venture scheme with an as yet unnamed Cambodian partner.…

VIETNAM’S plans to undertake a major expansion of its textile, texting finishing and fibre production sector were a key focus of an International Exhibition on Garment Manufacturing Equipment and Fabric, held in Ho Chi Minh City from July 11-13. WTiN.com attended the conference, where 125 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions showcased a range of garments, leather and footwear, and other industry products.…

VIETNAM’S trade ministry is targeting Africa as an export market for its textile production, encouraging fabric manufacturers to follow Vietnamese clothing companies in successfully scoring sales in this fast developing continent. The African, south Asian and east Asian trade department at Vietnam’s ministry of industry and trade (MOIT) has been promoting the potential of these markets in recent months at conferences and trade shows, stressing that Africa holds some of the greatest export potential for Vietnamese manufacturers.…

THE WORLD Bank has approved a USD55.62 million aid programme in Vietnam, that will as a priority develop traditional health care medicines in the country. Under the 2014-8 scheme, the World Bank will funnel money through the Vietnamese government to build the administrative and policy-making capacities of key medicine development bodies.…

THE AMERICAN textile and apparel industry is concerned the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations will not be completed this year as originally expected, Julie Hughes, president of the US Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, told just-style.com.

“Most observers from industry are sceptical that the entire agreement can come together in the next six months,” she said.…

AN ALLEGED leader of a USD200 million international data fraud ring has been charged in a US court with committing bank fraud, while he sits in a Vietnamese jail. Duy Hai Truong, 23, of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was arrested on May 29, after an investigation involving the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Vietnamese police.…

Vietnam’s clothing and textile sector has failed to secure a comprehensive breakthrough settling disputes over the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) yarn-forward rule during negotiations held both in Vietnam (May 12 to 15) and in Singapore (May 19 to 20). There was no deal on the controversial “short-supply list” proposals regarding exceptions to the TPP’s yarn-forward provisions, which stipulate that textiles are made with materials from TPP member countries in order to receive tax-free import benefits in TPP markets.…

INCREASED competition and a weakened global economy have not dimmed expectations for Vietnam-based knitwear exporters, with two major trade deals looming, able to guarantee duty free exports to the US and the European Union (EU). They will also remove non-tariff barriers impeding trade, boosting optimism amongst established exporters of quality Vietnam-made knitwear.…

WHILE it is always sensible to handle reports emerging from North Korea with care, it appears undeniable that the country does manufacture cosmetics and other personal care products and could, if current hopes of liberalisation are ultimately realised, become a new market for international players.…

WITH the global hunt for new rare earth reserves intensifying, claims from North Korea that its prospectors have identified 20 million tonnes of rare earth metal reserves have raised more interest than most statements from this isolated communist state.

Such statistics are usually taken with a pinch of salt, but around the same time South Korea’s Bank of Korea released data suggestion its northern neighbour had mineral deposits – including rare earths – worth around USD6 trillion.…

BY HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI

Investors often hold their noses about corruption in emerging markets. But countries such as Vietnam attract even more investment if they were cleaner. Helen Clark reports from Hanoi.

VIETNAM in the past 12 months appears to have embarked on a house-cleaning exercise, with police arresting a series of executives for a range of financial offences.…

BY CONNLA STOKES, IN HO CHI MINH CITY

As one of the world’s fastest-growing accountancy bodies, ACCA is attracting more finance and management professionals in Asia eager to get to the top. This is certainly the case for Shanghai, China-born Katherine Wu.…

BY HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI

21 SEPTEMBER, 2012

A FASHION for eating in branded fast food outlets such as America’s KFC is helping to drive increased meat consumption in Vietnam, where pork remains king but chicken dominates menus in quick-meals chains.…

BY HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI

Fast food consumption has risen quickly in Vietnam. With rapid economic growth in the past decade or more and a rising middle class in the cities with more disposable income many foreign chains have opened up in recent years.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER, IN SÃO PAULO; RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI; HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI; AND WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

THE GROWTH in outsourcing has been maybe the most important trend in the clothing and textile sector in the past decade, with emerging market countries offering increasingly reliable and sophisticated services.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER, IN SÃO PAULO; RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI; HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI; AND WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

WHILE the focus on emerging markets for the big international clothing brands has often been to view them as outsourcing opportunities, the truth is that there are a lot of people with a lot of money in these countries.…

BY KARRYN MILLER, IN HANOI

WITH similar tropical and sub-tropical climates giving personal care product consumers some similar requirements as regards skin care, the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region could be regarded as one by lazy marketers.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

IF any two countries could be deemed vulnerable to Chinese dominance of rare earth supplies, it surely has to be east Asia’s high tech exporters par excellence Japan and South Korea. From smart phones to electric cars, these two Asian nations continue to drive technology forward, but with rare earths an essential component of many electronic goods, these Tokyo and Seoul are scanning the region for new sources of these key minerals.…

BY MINI PANT ZACHARIAH, IN MUMBAI; AND SUZIE WHITE, IN HANOI

KEY Asian poultry producers Vietnam and India continue to be hit by bird flu outbreaks. Vietnam has been hit especially hard, with outbreaks of bird flu reported in 36 communes in 12 provinces across Vietnam this January and February.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

TUNISIA

Of all the countries disrupted by the Arab Spring revolts in 2011, Tunisia liberated itself in the swiftest and most business-friendly fashion. This key European supplier rid itself of despotic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January14, and one week later, its textile and clothing sector was back at work.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

VIETNAM’s cosmetics industry is almost unrecognisable now compared to 10 years ago: back then, prestigious Western beauty products were nowhere to be found on Vietnam retailers’ shelves, and it was South Korean cosmetics products that were considered luxurious in the communist country’s market.…

BY MARIANNE BROWN and KEITH NUTHALL

A CHINK of light in the gloom spread over the nuclear industry by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster can be seen to the south, where south-east Asian governments seem keen to push ahead with their nuclear expansion plans regardless.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

United States House of Representatives members linked to the textile industry are urging USA Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk in a letter received yesterday (June 1) to ensure an proposed expanded multi-lateral Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement does not flood American markets with Vietnamese clothing.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

"VIETNAM is making a big push to improve all aspects of infrastructure nationwide," said Adam Bury, senior manager of the research and consulting department of CB Richard Ellis in Ho Chi Minh City: "…and this includes airports." The property sales firm put it simply, "The better connected the country is, both domestically and internationally, the better it is for the people and the economy in general."…

BY WANG FANGQING, MINI PANT ZACHARIAH, KARRYN MILLER and KEITH NUTHALL

EMERGING market coatings exporters sometimes claim tough environmental rules in rich jurisdictions are nothing but a form of protection. And while such arguments can always be contested, it is certainly true that the European Union’s (EU) ongoing and longstanding biocide review will throw up obstacles to Asia-Pacific coatings manufacturers wanting to secure sales in Europe.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

ON first impressions Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s two largest metropolises, seem a far cry from the fashion capitals of the world. Their wide boulevards overflow with heavy traffic and are mostly lined with small family-owned stores and restaurants, rather than well-known brands.…

BY DUNG VU

THE VIETNAMESE fashion industry is girding itself for fewer orders from Japan, as it struggles to recover from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Japan is the third largest export market for Vietnam’s clothing and textile sector, after the USA and European Union and manufacturers are expecting production to be hit, although the general consensus is that orders are still being made.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF, KEITH NUTHALL and MJ DESCHAMPS

EUROPEAN Union (EU) governments are facing a political crossroads on a key question whose answer will have an important impact on the EU knitwear sector – both manufacturers and retail. That is the issue of rules of origin and whether there should be an EU-wide law that says clothing and accessories (plus a wide range of other manufactured goods) should be sold with labels saying which country they are made in, if they are imported from outside the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CHAIRMAN of the European Confederation of the Footwear Industry has confirmed to just-style that his organisation will not seek a renewal of European Union (EU) anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese shoe exports. These tariffs – 16.5% on Chinese and 10% on Vietnamese shoes – are due to expire March 31, and will stay only if the European Commission decides to investigate their potential long-term renewal.…

BY MARK GODFREY

VIGOROUS economic growth and stimulus spending in key growth markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and India is ensuring Asia remains a bright spot in the global US dollar USD100 billion paint and coatings sector. Yet in terms of raw material supplies, south-east Asia and India are not as geared towards production as China, which has been ramping up chemicals refining capacity largely through ventures between local and multinational firms.…

BY SAMI HALABI

THE KNITTING industry in Turkey is undergoing a paradigm shift as its business model moves from one that relied on margins to one that is dependent on quantity. The economic downturn of late 2008 and 2009 left the industry in a situation with stock orders down to a minimum and the industry having to adapt to a new market dynamic.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

DESPITE the global economic downturn of the last few years Vietnam’s paint industry has continued to experience growth. According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office 234,000 tonnes of paint was produced in Vietnam between January 2010 and November 2010.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

DESPITEthe global economic downturn of the last few years Vietnam’s paint industryhas continued to experience growth.According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office234,000 tonnes of paint was produced in Vietnam between January 2010 and November 2010.In the same period last year production was at 181,200 tonnes.Sales…

BY BARBARA BIERACH

WHILE the Reserve Bank of Australia has a licence to print cash, two subsidiaries wanted one too, it seems – only using international sales agents to bribe foreign public officials over banknote printing contracts. Barbara Bierach reports from Sydney.…

BY JULIAN RYALL

BEFORE September 8, few people anywhere had heard of Zhan Qixiong or his battered fishing boat. However, since the Chinese fisherman and his 14-strong crew were taken into custody by the Japan Coast Guard on September 8, Zhan has found himself at the centre of an escalating geopolitical row that has already put planned discussions over gas and oil deposits between Beijing and Tokyo on hold and is ratcheting up broader tensions in the region.…

WINNERS

TURKEY

This was the year when Turkey really came into its own. With a well-established and successful clothing and textile industry, supping Europe, Russia and the Middle East, its industry this year laid claim to becoming a fashion centre. August’s Istanbul Fashion Week caught a lot of global attention with 21 catwalk shows, an audience of 40,000, and more than 500 overseas guests.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

VIETNAM’S leading dairy company Vinamilk will hold a 19.3% stake in the New Zealand-based Miraka Limited, helping ease Vietnamese milk supply shortages, a spokesman told just-food. Following approval from Vietnam’s ministry of planning and investment, the dairy producer chose a planned New Zealand dairy production plant for its first overseas investment.…

BY SHANNELLE LAMARE, KEITH NUTHALL

FOR the last five years the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with the World Bank (WB), has been operating the Global Programme against Money Laundering (GPML) to boost Vietnam’s AML/CFT (anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism) systems.…

BY KARRYN MILLER, AHMAD PATHONI, MARK ROWE

SOUTHEAST Asia is a growing and diverse market for international personal care product brands, despite the challenges (and some losses) cased by the recession. The region contains relatively rich emerging markets (and the very rich city state of Singapore), and its major poorer countries, notably Vietnam and Indonesia are growing fast and emerging robustly from the recession.…

BY WANG FANGQING, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, KARRYN MILLER

CLOTHING manufacturers and associated regulators in emerging markets are often mindful that they need to meet the requirements of consumer safety rules in key developed world markets, but standards still need raising, and – crucially – enforcement.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, KARRYN MILLER, GAVIN BLAIR, KEITH NUTHALL

WEARING clothes is not the most dangerous of pastimes: it is not really up there with hang-gliding, off-piste skiing and single-handed ocean yachting. But there are risks associated with wearing clothes, from the contact consumers and workers’ skin has with the chemicals used in production; to potential for strangulation by drawstrings, choking on toggles, and the flammability of some artificial fibres.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

SILK is deeply ingrained in the cultures of south-east Asian countries. "In Laos every stitch of clothing used to be made of silk, even baby diapers," said Mark Sloneker, founder of sustainable, fair-trade website Orijyn (www.orijyn.com), which sells Laotian silk products abroad.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

AS trade barriers continue to diminish, clothing brands are becoming more global. However it is not as easy for the sizes of their goods to be quite as worldly. International players need to adapt their fits for different target markets but that level of adaptation varies by country.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

SILK is deeply ingrained in the cultures of south-east Asian countries. "In Laos every stitch of clothing used to be made of silk, even baby diapers," said Mark Sloneker, founder of sustainable, fair-trade website Orijyn (www.orijyn.com), which sells Laotian silk products abroad.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

It is common knowledge that no two bodies are the same. Although clothing sizes help us to categorise bodies into general fits, each garment is going to hang a little differently depending on the consumer. Looking forward these variations in sizes are becoming more apparent as we see advancements in 3D scanning technology that allow us to get a more complete picture of an individual’s size.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

VIETNAM has worked hard to convince foreign companies they should look past neighbouring China for their knitwear needs. Through an increasing commitment to quality, along with strong government support, Vietnamese knitwear firms are starting to see the fruits of their labour and tags ‘made in Vietnam’ are becoming more common both domestically and abroad.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN textile and clothing outsourcers and buyers will be happy that the European Union (EU) has started free trade negotiations with key exporter Vietnam. The negotiations were launched yesterday (March 2) in Hanoi after a meeting between new EU trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Vietnam prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung.…

BY MARK ROWE

FOR a developing country dependent on exports to a world still groggy from recession, Vietnam and its paint industry have proved impressively resilient over the past 18 months.

According to the country’s ministry of planning and investment, industrial production value in January was 28.4% higher than the same period last year, and the government called for industry to cut back on imports in February to boost domestic production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) controversial anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese-made leather shoes will probably be extended for another 15 months, after the European Commission concluded they should remain. It has asked the EU Council of Ministers for a formal extension, although it is far shorter than the usual five years.…

BY WILLIAM BARNES

IN Southeast Asia confectionery is important, perhaps deceptively so.

"No Asiatic regime practices the art of confectionery," opined Richard Sterling in his robust book, "The Fearless Diner."

Sterling may have been to too many Chinese-style banquets, where an abrupt finish is common.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo, EMMA JACKSON and LEAH GERMAIN

TIME was when counterfeit personal care products were commonly crude fake perfumes pedalled in markets and workplaces during the Christmas and other festive periods to bargain hunters who knew they were buying rubbish.…

BY MARK ROWE

DESPITE the gathering storm of global economic recession, the Vietnamese paint industry has so far turned in a reasonably strong performance through 2009. Projected growth of 8.1% for the whole of 2009 – made by Vietnam’s General Statistics Office (GSO) back in November 2008, now looks slightly optimistic, but the reality may not be too far from that figure, suggest experts.…

BY WILLIAM BARNES

A WOMAN brushes past palm fronds into the pastel lights of a busy Bangkok salon. At the counter she turns what looks to be a flawless, ivory face towards a woman in a vaguely medical uniform: "Aiyee! I am getting so old.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Commission officials are considering an unprecedented refund of anti-dumping duties to importers of Chinese and Vietnamese shoes, should an anticipated review of the tariffs conclude they were wrongfully imposed.

The Commission’s ruling college is expected to authorise the review on Wednesday (Oct 1), which would extend the operation of the tariffs, currently due to expire next week.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE

AS the world’s wild finfish and seafood stocks continue to dwindle and environmental pressure for sustainable fishing practices rises, South Korea’s fishing fleet is adjusting with the times.

South and North Korea’s combined expansive coastline spans 8,693 kilometres (South Korea’s mainland alone commands 2,413km).…

BY MARK ROWE

VIETNAM is a country enjoying an extraordinary boom. Cities teem with cars and a seemingly infinite number of motorcycles, whilst new offices and advertising hoardings are erected daily, symbolising a new era for the country and good news for the paint industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has been asked to approve two new ‘open skies’ deals between the EU, Jordan and Vietnam. The agreements will provide for the usual mutual access to EU, Jordanian and Vietnamese airports for locally-based carriers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
VIETNAMESE clothing manufacturers have been guaranteed quota-free access to the established members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after joining the global trade body on January 11. Its membership, which followed 12 years of negotiations, also means that duty levels for its exports to other WTO countries will henceforth be capped.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AFLATOXINS have been reported in a range of nuts in the European Union (EU) says European Commission food health alert service RASFF. Contamination was discovered in Iranian, Vietnamese and Turkish pistachios; Brazilian peanuts; Sudanese groundnuts; Moroccan almonds; and Turkish hazelnuts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

VIETNAM will be hoping that the approval this week of its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will improve the access to overseas markets enjoyed by its clothing and textile exporters. Membership means that Vietnam and its trading partners have promised to keep their mutual clothing and textile trades unimpeded by restrictive quotas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

VIETNAM will hope its November approval of accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will improve the access to overseas markets enjoyed by its clothing and textile exporters. Membership means that Vietnam and its trading partners have promised to keep their mutual clothing and textile trades unimpeded by restrictive quotas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) retailers may next week regain unlimited sources of cheap Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes, with a deadline looming for EU ministers to agree permanent (definitive) anti-dumping duties. Northern European member states have so far blocked duties sufficiently tough to satisfy southern European countries seeking to protect their shoe manufacturers.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

A PROTOTYPE book-on-demand machine that prints, cuts and binds up to 20 books in an hour has been launched at the World Bank Bookstore in Washington. The Espresso Book Machine uses digital files to "make" books listed on a catalogue.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FOOD producers and distributors in Vietnam are to receive assistance in raising their standards because of Euro 38 million lent by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to Germany’s Metro Cash and Carry Vietnam Limited. This money will finance the construction of wholesale stores in five main Vietnamese cities: Can Tho, Ho-Chi-Minh-City, Hanoi, Haiphong and Da Nang.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Commission trade officials in Brussels have confirmed that the European Union (EU) may exempt sports trainers from possible anti-dumping duties against Vietnam footwear exports, now under investigation. The official told just-style.com: "We’re considering an exemption in this case; that’s a scenario we have put to member states, (European) producers and other interested parties."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend German retail giant Metro Euro 40 million to build five junior wholesale cash and carry stores in Vietnam. They would cover between 6,000 and 9,000 square metres in sales area and would mirror the small cash and carry format that has proved particularly successful for Metro in eastern and southern Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Commission trade officials in Brussels have confirmed that the European Union (EU) may exempt sports trainers from possible anti-dumping duties against Vietnam footwear exports, now under investigation. The official told just-style.com: "We’re considering an exemption in this case; that’s a scenario we have put to member states, (European) producers and other interested parties."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FORMAL decision has been taken by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers to abolish all remaining textile and clothing import quotas for World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries from January 1. It means 210 quotas affecting exporters from Argentina, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand will go.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed the widening of import quotas for Vietnamese textile exports to the European Union (EU), to take account of the accession of 10 southern and eastern European countries to the EU in May. These quotas would remain until they are abolished in the New Year, under the World Trade Organisation’s agreement on textiles and clothing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REPORTS of fresh bird flu outbreaks are still being reported to the Office International des Épizooties (OIE) by the Indonesian and Vietnamese governments. The most recent cases in Indonesia involved 6,610 chickens being killed in Yogyakarta and Lampung provinces; 200 died in Dông Tháp, Vietnam.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MASS vaccination campaign against bird flu might result from the ongoing outbreak in Asia, with the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) moving away from a pro-culling policy. Following meetings with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Office International des Épizooties on animal health the FAO said that a targeted vaccination campaign in heavily affected countries maybe required.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MASS vaccination campaign against bird flu might result from the ongoing outbreak in Asia, with the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) moving away from a pro-culling policy. Following meetings with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Office International des Épizooties on animal health the FAO said that a targeted vaccination campaign in heavily affected countries maybe required.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MASS vaccination campaign against bird flu might result from the ongoing outbreak in Asia, with the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) moving away from a pure pro-culling policy. Following meetings with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Office International des Épizooties on animal health the FAO said that a targeted vaccination campaign in heavily affected countries maybe required.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
VIETNAM has launched an ambitious reform of its judiciary, which it wants to make more efficient and independent to underpin its drive towards doubling its gross domestic product in the next 10 years through a thriving private business sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have widened an anti-dumping duty imposed on Chinese exports of zinc oxide, following claims from Eurometaux that cargoes have been illegally re-routed via Vietnam to avoid the tariff.

The EU producer association had alleged that following the imposition of the original duties last year – ranging from 6.9 to 28 per cent on zinc oxide with a purity of not less than 93 per cent – there was “a significant increase in imports from Vietnam, while imports from China decreased substantially during the same time span.”…

Keith Nuthall
THE CONTINUED threat posed by Chinese shoe exporters willing to fraudulently exploit trade concessions in European Union markets enjoyed by its east Asian neighbours has led to the likely extension of surveillance measures designed to crack down on the problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has formally approved the three year textile trade deal struck between the European Commission and Vietnam. Extending and amending an existing agreement until 2005, it includes the EU increasing the quotas it applies to Vietnamese textile and clothing exports.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE US government has signed a bilateral textile pact with Vietnam that gives the south-east Asian country the most generous access to the American market ever granted in an initial two-country agreement, according to a critical American Textile Manufacturers’ Institute (ATMI).…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE AMERICAN Textile Manufacturers Institute wants the US government to halt trade negotiations with Vietnam, while it gets an accurate picture of the abuse of its quotas by Chinese exporters illegally trans-shipping goods through their south-east Asian neighbour.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has agreed to extend until December 2004 an existing agreement with Vietnam on preventing fraud in the international trade in footwear products. The deal in effect extends this Memorandum of Understanding agreement by two years, allowing time for the two sides to review the controls, if necessary.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee has attacked the lifting of a ban on Vietnamese poultry and shrimp exports into the European Union (EU) because of concerns about the use of controlled antibiotics. MEP’s accused the European Commission of acting in haste, without adequately checking whether controlled nitrofurans were still being widely used by Vietnamese shrimp and poultry producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Vietnam have struck a new textile and clothing trade deal. Until 2005, the EU will increase the size of Vietnam textile and clothing export quotas by between 50 and 75 per cent, generating Euro 200 million of trade opportunities and boosting Vietnamese exports to the EU by 25 per cent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee has attacked the lifting of tight import restrictions imposed on Vietnamese poultry exports into the European Union because of concerns about the use of controlled anti-biotics. MEP’s accused the European Commission of acting without adequately checking whether nitrofurans were still being widely used by Vietnamese poultry producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Vietnam have struck a new textile and clothing trade deal which would give the south east Asian country increases in European Union (EU) textile and clothing quotas worth Euro 200 million a year. In return, the Vietnam government has pledged significant tariff reductions in the sectors, along with other liberalisation commitments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has authorised the European Commission to open negotiations with Vietnam on updating the 1992 EU-Vietnamese Bilateral Agreement on Trade in Textile and Clothing Products, which was last amended in 2000.…

BY MARK ROWE
A VIETNAMESE food processor has invented an odourless variety of fish sauce in attempt to crack the American market where the smell of fermented fish is disliked. The Hanh Phuc Food Processing Company in Ho Chi Minh City has already sold 100,000 bottles of odourless sauce worth US$50,000 to the United States.…

BY STEVE BAILEY, in Hanoi, Vietnam
WESTERN restaurateurs are opening businesses in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and formerly the centre of a communist dictatorship that refused to allow foreign ownership of local companies and partnerships.

A string of western-owned restaurants, many under French control, have opened in the historic old quarter near St.…