After a week of negotiation in HCM City which grabbed full attention of Vietnam garment manufacturers, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations (TPP) yields promising results for Vietnam garment factories while being expected to attain several improvement by year-end.
Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, on behalf of Vietnam clothes manufactures presented at the TPP event to persuade the negotiators in the attempt to claim for benefit from a TPP Agreement, from which improve the competitiveness of Vietnam clothing factories. It is said that in order to reduce the risks to the Vietnam garment industry in joining TPP and benefit from that the rules of origin should be applied as they are in the "cut and sew" process. In fact, if the "yarn forward" rules are applied to the TPP as condition for Vietnam to join, Vietnam garment factories will hardly have the chance to expand their production.
Therefore, one of the main target of Vietnam garment manufacturers is to fight for "cut and sew" rules in TPP. Currently, It is estimated that in a finished garment product, the cost of fabrics accounts for maximum 50%, however garment factories in Vietnam still heavily depends on imports of materials especially from China. In reality, clothes manufacturers of Viet Nam are too underdeveloped to make fabrics that are used in products exported and thus could not satisfy the "fabric forward" rule to be able to claim priority tariffs according to those FTAs. This also means tariffs applied for apparel exports from Viet Nam (a TPP partner) will be the same as those for non-TPP partners, including China.
Some fear a "cut and sew" rule would lead to a flood of Vietnam garment products in the markets of TPP partner markets. In fact, the "cut and sew" rule was accepted by Korea and other countries, including TPP countries such as Australia and New Zealand, in previous FTAs but the trade volume for Vietnam garment exporters didn't gain a great boost. That's proof that imported countries should not worry about any sudden surge of apparel products from Viet Nam after a TPP.
Some fear a "cut and sew" rule would lead to a flood of Vietnam garment products in the markets of TPP partner markets. In fact, the "cut and sew" rule was accepted by Korea and other countries, including TPP countries such as Australia and New Zealand, in previous FTAs but the trade volume for Vietnam garment exporters didn't gain a great boost. That's proof that imported countries should not worry about any sudden surge of apparel products from Viet Nam after a TPP.
Some optimists think that if "yarn forward" rule is the final decision of TPP countries, at least it would help to attract more foreign investment in the clothing factory of Viet Nam to serve national development.
However, In the context of globalisation and the free trade tendency, Vietnam clothes manufacturers are trying to persuade all partners that they should understand the position and situation of each country and make reasonable concessions for a TPP beneficial to all partners.
For textile and apparel issues, Garment factories in Vietnam urge the TPP negotiators to adopt the "cut and sew" rules for the benefits of Vietnamese clothes manufacturers and all TPP consumers.
No comments:
Post a Comment