Textile and garment enterprises seek ways to cope with difficulties

Since the beginning of the year, textile and garment enterprises in the province have encountered many difficulties in production and business. The situation of workers having to reduce working hours and working days has occurred in many enterprises. The main reason comes from the lack of production orders.

Production workers at Hung Yen Garment Corporation - Joint Stock Company (Hung Yen city)

Mr. Vu Chien Thang, Director of Youngone Hung Yen Co., Ltd., Chinh Nghia Commune (Kim Dong) said: The company specializes in producing clothes for export to the US, Europe and Korea markets. This year, the company's operations are very difficult, the number of orders has decreased by about 60% compared to the same period last year. To ensure jobs for more than 2,100 workers, we are looking for new markets, accepting small orders that require more difficult techniques, so the company is in a "monthly" situation and has almost no profit. Due to the decrease in the number of orders, the number of working hours of workers has decreased by about 1 - 1.5 hours/day compared to last year, the average income of workers from the beginning of the year until now has also decreased to 8.3 to 8.5 million VND/person/month (in 2022, the average income of workers in the company will reach 9 million VND/person/month).

Currently, the shortage of orders is happening in many textile and garment export enterprises. At Hung Yen Garment Corporation - Joint Stock Company (Hung Yen city), compared to the same period last year, the number of orders of the company has decreased sharply, there are very few strong orders, instead, the company accepts new, more difficult orders; processing prices have also decreased from 15% to 40%. At this time, maintaining jobs for over 2,070 workers is a great effort of the company. Ms. Ly Thi Phuong, a worker of the company, said: Since the beginning of the year, I and the workers in the company have had to cut working hours, so income has decreased by 10 - 15% compared to last year. However, we are working together to improve productivity and product quality to overcome difficulties with the company in the current period.

Not only large textile and garment enterprises producing export goods but also small-scale enterprises producing domestic consumption goods are facing many difficulties. Mr. Vu Manh Hong, CEO of Nhat Hoa Production and Trading Company Limited, Tan Quang Commune (Van Lam) said: Our company has over 100 machines with 140 workers specializing in producing clothing products for domestic consumption. Since the beginning of the year, the consumption of the company's products has decreased by about 50% compared to last year. Currently, the amount of goods is low, so workers have reduced their working hours by about 1.5 hours per day, so the income of workers has also decreased by about 10% compared to last year. We are looking for ways to overcome this by not laying off workers, but reducing working hours to maintain the workforce, waiting for the market to recover.

According to information from the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, since the end of last year, textile and garment enterprises nationwide in general and textile and garment enterprises in the province in particular have encountered many difficulties. Not only are there difficulties in the number of orders, but the unit price of textile and garment products has also decreased from 15% to 40%. In addition, the high prices of raw materials, accessories for the garment industry, and logistics services have also affected production costs and profits, making it even more difficult for enterprises.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said: There are currently about 100 textile and garment enterprises in the province, creating jobs for over 40,000 workers. The reduction and lack of orders of textile and garment enterprises has greatly affected the income and lives of tens of thousands of workers. To overcome this difficult period, garment enterprises in the province have proactively developed and implemented flexible response plans and solutions. In particular, it is necessary to seek new markets, diversify customers, actively and proactively learn production experience in garment processing countries. At the same time, it is necessary to improve workers' skills, improve product quality, and process difficult items that require high technology that other markets cannot do in order to maintain production activities, with the goal of ensuring jobs and income for workers.

Faced with existing difficulties, many textile and garment business owners wish to receive assistance from the State, such as: Support in reducing, extending, and deferring taxes and fees for businesses, continuing to reduce loan interest rates and creating conditions for garment businesses to access loans with preferential interest rates...

According to the forecast of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the textile and garment industry in the coming time will still not be optimistic due to the global economic recession, the tight monetary policy causing the demand to decrease in major textile and garment importing countries such as: America, Europe, Korea, Japan. To promote production development and support enterprises, the Department of Industry and Trade coordinates with units to work with a number of industrial production enterprises in the area, including textile and garment enterprises to remove obstacles and difficulties in investment and construction as well as production and business.

Huong Giang