According to preliminary statistics from the General Department of Customs, the import turnover of various types of garment fabrics into Vietnam in the first 9 months of 2024 was worth nearly 10.95 billion USD, an increase of 14.3% compared to the first 9 months of 2023.

September 2024 alone reached over 1.25 billion USD, an increase of 1.2% compared to August 2024 and an increase of 14% compared to September 2023.

Up to 67% of the total turnover of imported garment fabrics to Vietnam comes from the Chinese market. In September 2024 alone, imports from this market reached over 802.29 million USD, down 4.1% compared to August 2024 but up 10.8% compared to September 2023; in total, the first 9 months of 2024 reached over 7.33 billion USD, up 20.4% compared to the first 9 months of 2023.

The import turnover of various types of garment fabrics into Vietnam in the first 9 months of 2024 was worth nearly 10.95 billion USD. Photo: TL

Next is the Taiwan market (China) reaching nearly 1.14 billion USD, up 11.6%, accounting for 10.4%; September 2024 alone reached 152.66 million USD, up 9.6% compared to August 2024 and up 20.6% compared to September 2023.

Imports from the Korean market in September 2024 increased by 1.4% compared to August 2024 and increased by 2.1% compared to September 2023, reaching over 113.64 million USD; in the first 9 months of 2024, it decreased by 0.5% over the same period, reaching over 1.11 billion USD, accounting for 10.2%. Fabric imported from the Japanese market in the first 9 months of 2024 decreased by 4.1%, reaching 478.97 million USD, accounting for 4.4%.

In general, garment fabric import turnover from most markets in the first 9 months of 2024 increased compared to the first 9 months of 2023.

Fabric is an extremely important input material for the Vietnamese textile and garment industry - a key industry with an export turnover of tens of billions of USD each year. Currently, Vietnamese garment products have been exported to 104 countries and territories. However, domestic raw fabric sources only meet 50% of demand, so Vietnam has to import raw fabric from other countries, typically China.

Source: According to data from the General Department of Customs

Chinese fabrics were so popular that traders from Europe flocked to the ports to import them, creating the famous “Silk Road” connecting regions of China to Mongolia, India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, around the Mediterranean and all the way to Europe.

China's advantages in the textile industry are low production costs, quality raw materials, modern industrial infrastructure and available high-tech machinery, making this market always a priority for other countries to import. Currently, textile factory clusters in China are concentrated in the eastern coastal provinces, in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, and Hebei.

Not only accounting for a large number of the world's textile and garment output, many textile and garment establishments in China are also actively shifting to applying automation to production lines to improve productivity and avoid labor shortages.

For silk, the new generation of Chinese silkworms produces white silk, so there is no need to bleach it, resulting in better quality silk. The new generation of Chinese silkworms also produces longer cocoons that do not break, and the silk yield is much higher than that of other countries.