Leeds Metropolitan University Faculty of Business & Law DIFFICULTIES IN VIETNAM’S EXPORT OF TEXTILES AND CLOTHING TO THE EUROPEAN UNION MARKET IN THE PERIOD FROM 1992 TO 2007 Nguyen Mai, Chi Student ID: 77119652 In partial fulfilment for the requirements of the Master Degree in International Trade and Finance Dissertation Supervisor: Christine Ngo 2012 – 2013 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to say my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Christine Ngo, for her feedbacks and advices. From the point of a supervisor, she suggested and encouraged me to complete the thesis. My thanks also go to the lecturer of the research method module, Milton Yago, for providing me the background knowledge of how to implement a research. Thanks to all the research participants.
The study would not have been completed without your valuable opinions. I would like to thank the staff of international training project-Academy of Finance too for their support and guide. Finally, my special thanks go to my family and dear friends for their understanding and encouragement during the researching process. They have been by my side whenever I have had stress or tiredness.
I once more time say my most sincere thanks to all of them. 2 ABSTRACT Vietnam is one of less developed countries which depend on export much, especially export of textiles and clothing. Among many international markets, the European Union is one of the most potential markets for Vietnamese textiles and clothing export enterprises. Beside achievements, these companies got a lot of obstacles.
The focus of this research is in the area of difficulties in Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing to the European Union market from 1992 to 2007. Such a study is important in order to enhance the understanding of difficulties and challenges in Vietnamese textiles and clothing export industry in general, the understanding of common weaknesses of Vietnamese companies, barriers originated from the European Union and the competition of China in specific. The secondary data and primary data of the thesis, in turn, were collected through the relevant literature and the implementation of interviews. The findings from this research provide evidence that the common weaknesses of Vietnamese textiles and clothing export and manufacturing companies were mainly around the factors of labor, raw materials, market knowledge, capital resources, infrastructures, administrative procedure.
Besides, distribution, competition, technology and exchange rate regimes were the other weaknesses. It is also shown that the state of the European Union affected Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing to the market mainly in terms of the socio-cultural and economic factors. Further more, Vietnam had to cope with China’s five competitive aspects; they were labor cost, prices of products, modes of products, raw material inputs and government support. The conclusion drawn from this study is obstacles Vietnamese companies got, originated from the lack of government support significantly.
This dissertation recommends that Vietnamese enterprises need to make efforts in order to enhance their inside potentiality, along with the support of the government to be against external barriers from the protectionism of the European Union, the competition of China, the other competitors as well. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.3 TABLE OF CONTENTS.4 LIST OF TABLES.6 LIST OF FIGURES.7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Background of the study. Significance of the study.
Research aims and objectives. Boundary of the study.13 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.2 Common weaknesses of Vietnam textiles and clothing export and manufacturing companies 14 2.3 The state of Europe Union affected Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing to this market.4 China’s competitive aspects, which Vietnam had to cope with in the export of textiles and clothing to the European Union market.24 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.2 Findings and discussion.1 Common weaknesses of Vietnam textiles and clothing export and manufacturing companies.1 Human resources: Labor.2 Physical resources: Raw materials.3 Knowledge resources: Market knowledge.2 The state of the European Union affected Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing to this market.3 The on-going Euro Zone crisis.3 China’s competitive aspects, which Vietnam had to cope with in the export of textiles and clothing to the Europe Union market.2 Prices and modes of products.3 Raw material inputs.50 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.2 Research objectives: Summary of Findings and Conclusions.1 Research Objective 1: Common weaknesses of Vietnam textiles and clothing export and manufacturing companies.2 Research Objective 2: The state of the European Union affected Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing to this market.3 Research Objective 3: China’s competitive aspects, which Vietnam had to cope with in the export of textiles and clothing to the European Union market.58 Appendix 1: Learning Statement.58 Appendix 2: Top 20 less developed countries with a high dependence on clothing exports.62 Appendix 3: Some main goods for exportation.63 Appendix 4: Vietnam’s textiles and clothing export turnover to the Europe Union market.67 Appendix 5 : Interview form.68 Appendix 6: Statement of originality and authenticity.74 Appendix 7: Local Level Approval: Postgraduate Research Project.75 Appendix 8: Dissertation Proposal.85 6 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Major steps in textiles and clothing production process Table 2: Skill requirements in garmenting Table 3:. Hourly wage costs in the textile industry, selected countries, 1993 (US$) Table 4: Market share of clothing retailers in main EU countries - Percentages. (EG-Studies KSA / Texco, 1990) Table 5: Data analysis approach Table 6: Structure of Imported T&G Commodities of Vietnam (%) Table 7: Ceiling Interest Rates for Working Capital 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Textiles and Clothing Exports of Cambodia and Vietnam, 1997- 2001 (in millions of US$) Figure 2: Hourly costs in the textile and clothing industry, 1998 (US$) Figure 3: Foreign investment in Vietnam’s textiles and garment industry: Foreign Investors in Vietnam by Origin (1997) Figure 4: The earnings of workers in China (1992-2001) Figure 5: China’s exports and FDI 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABIT: Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations ATC: Agreement on Textile and Clothing C/O: Certificate of Origin EU: European Union FDI: Foreign Direct Investment GATT: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GDP: Gross Domestic Product GSP: Generalized System of Preferences HACCP: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points MFA: Multi Fibre Arrangement MFN: Most Favored Nation NSDC: National Skill Development Corporation SOEs: State-owned Enterprises T/C: Textiles and Clothing UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development USITC: United States International Trade Commission VITAS: Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association WTO: World Trade Organization 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In the first chapter, the researcher would like to present the background of the study, the reasons why this topic is selected and the significance of this research.
The aim and objectives are also going to be identified specifically. Background of the study Globalization has been much concerned by the whole world for a long time, meanwhile international trade has played a very important role in socio- economic development. Especially, exports have significant impacts on the economic growth of a nation; therefore, many developing countries have the trend of pursuing industrialization on exports. Vietnam is also not out of this trend.
Export activity has had great influences on Vietnam’s economic growth for many years. It has affected Vietnam’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) considerably. “Goods and services exports now constitute around 70 per cent of Vietnam's GDP up from a 30 per cent share recorded in the mid 1990s” (Department of foreign affairs and trade - Australia, 2012). According to Ho Chi Minh city department of industry and trade (Feb 2005), the export turnover of Vietnam reached over $ 26 billion in 2004; it was 28.9% over the previous year, which made the GDP growth rate of Vietnam ranked first in the region in 2004, higher than that in 2003.
Jodie Keane and Dirk Willem te Velde (2008, quoted in UNCTAD, 2005 and WTO, 2006) stated that Vietnam belonged to the top 20 less developed nations with a high dependence on the export of clothing. See appendix 2: Top 20 less developed countries with a high dependence on clothing exports. Strong competitions on export market among countries indirectly improve the quality of merchandise in the global, as well as products produced by Vietnamese enterprises. Vietnam is a member of WTO, APEC etc.
So that, it forces this nation to produce better products in order to create competitive advantages. This is essential because Vietnam’s manufacturing capacity and technology are worse than many other countries too. Exportation, besides, changes the economic structures of nations. Previously being an inward economy, Vietnam has become an outward one.
Further more, export promotion 10 reduces unemployment and improve living conditions. Last but not least, export partly promotes external economic relationships. Some major types of exported commodities of Vietnam are rice, sea products, crude oil, coffee, rubber, pepper, coal etc. Especially, textiles and clothing are goods exported much.
This type of commodity is concerned by many countries. Md Golam Robbani (2004, quoted in Yang & Zhong, 1998) said that textiles and clothing played an important role in the beginning stages of industrialisation in Britain, Japan, North America and in the export-oriented growth of East Asian nations recently. Following Jodie Keane and Dirk Willem te Velde’s work in 2008, T&C are the significant source of exports in low income and developing countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan; they depend on T&C exports for more than 50% of total manufacturing exports, 83.5% in Bangladesh and 80% in Cambodia for example. “Developing countries are supplying more than half the world’s exports of clothing and a third of global textile exports, double their shares of the late 1960s” (Maurizio Giuli, n.
Vietnam government determines textiles and clothing are essential exported merchandise and always facilitates this export. In fact, Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing has had certain difficulties; however, its achievements cannot be rejected. General Statistics Office of Vietnam (n.d) listed main goods for the exportation of Vietnam from 1995 to 2010; the value of textiles exported has been upward year by year. See appendix 3: Some main goods for exportation.
The United State (US) and the Europe Union (EU), Korea and Japan are said to be important markets of Vietnam’s textiles and clothing export. In 2001, the export turnover to the European Union market was 741,011,500 Euro. See appendix 4: Vietnam’s textiles and clothing export turnover to the Europe Union market. In 2004, the textiles and clothing export turnover of Vietnam reached $ 4,32 billion, an increase of 17,2%.
It reached $ 663 million when exporting to the EU market, an increase of 32% (Ho Chi Minh city department of industry and trade, 2005). As be known, EU has been a large and potential market for Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing. EU is a big area in term of population; it includes 27 member states. “The population of the European Union reached 502.5 million on 1 January 2011 according to data provided by the statistical office of the 11 European Union.
This is one million and a half more than a year ago. This is definitely populous. EU is located in Western and Northern Europe. Despite of being a union of many nations, there are socio-economic similarities among these member states.
Being a sustainable economy, Europeans have quite high standard of living. For fashion items, they pay attention to the quality and fashion of products more than their prices. It requires manufacturers to produce qualitative products which are trendy. Because of three reasons: the importance of export to Vietnam, the top position of textiles and clothing in the list of Vietnam’s exported commodities and the potentiality of the European Union market, the researcher selects the research topic of difficulties in Vietnam’s export of textiles and clothing to the European Union market in the period from 1992 to 2007.
Significance of the study In his report, Hal Hill (1998), who comes from Australian National University, said that “Failure to achieve export success in this industry is invariably symptomatic of deep seated domestic obstacles and an inability to build on strong potential comparative advantage.” So that, what are specific obstacles the industry has to cope with?