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Clothing sector told to trim its sails
Textile and garment companies should increase production and reduce expenses to cope with the leap in petrol prices, according to the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Bui Xuan Khu, on July 21.
Khu said the companies should confront the shortage of workers by shifting production to locations with plentiful labour resources in hope to reach 9.5 billion USD export target set for this year.
These suggestions were made during a conference on boosting textile and garment exports in the remaining months of this year.
Khu said companies should approach local authorities with ways of solving their difficulties in dealing with administrative procedures.
He also said they should supervise the authorities’ activities to streamline administrative procedures.
The deputy minister also urged the power sector to guarantee a steady electricity supply for business consumption.
”With these ongoing efforts, the 9.5 billion USD export target is within our reach,” he said.
At the conference, many delegates outlined difficulties they were experiencing and called on the Government to issue policies that would assist them to stabilise production and promote exports.
Many of the difficulties involved labour shortages, access to bank loans, import-tax refunds, limited cooperation with large enterprises and inadequate infrastructure facilities.
Nguyen Van Thoi, director of Thai Nguyen Garment Co, asked the Government to put textiles and garments on the list of priority sectors receiving bank loans with preferential interest rates because they were one of the nation’s biggest earners of foreign-currency.
He also said enterprises needing bank loans to build houses for workers should receive priority because the sector employed a high number of labourers.
During the first half of the year, the textile and garment industry had an export turnover of 4.2 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent.
VNA
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