Hanoi (VNA) –Vietnam has become increasingly appealing to large foreign investor groups inthe textile and garment industry who want to seize opportunities before theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) takeseffect in January next year, according to analysts.

German-based Amann Group,one of the world’s top three leading producers of high-quality sewing andembroidery threads, is expanding its network to Vietnam with a new factorybeing constructed on a 45,000sq.m ground at Tam Thang Industrial Park in thecentral province of Quang Nam.

The new facility will beadded to Amann’s existing network of factories in various countries acrossAsia, including Bangladesh, China, India, and Indonesia.

At the new productionsite, the group will produce around 2,300 tonnes of sewing threads per year,mainly for the manufacture of apparel and shoes.

The first phase of theproject is scheduled to commence in late July of next year.

Kraig BiocraftLaboratories Inc., the US’ leading developer of spider silk-based yarn, isworking with agricultural cooperatives in Quang Nam to expand mulberryproduction and develop high-performance silk in Vietnam.

The firm plans to set upa centre for research and development (R&D) of silk, as well as grow about2,500ha of mulberry to support spider silk in the country.

According to KraigBiocraft Laboratories, Vietnam is being chosen to scale up its spider silkcommercialisation efforts in one of the firm’s strategic moves to furthergrowth.

The domino effect createdby FDI expansion in the textile and garment sector has also led to an increasein the number of foreign suppliers of machinery and equipment for the industry.

In June, ILLIES Vietnam –a member of the German C. ILLIES & Co. and also a leading distributor ofindustrial textiles machinery and equipment – announced it has expanded itsportfolio in the spinning sector. It now provides machines and spare parts forshort-staple yarn-spinning systems for the Rieter Group and the local textilemarket.

In the first quarter of2019, the company will open a repair centre for mechanical and electrical partsof Rieter machines.

So far this year, theVietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) has welcomed many foreigntextile and garment producers visiting Vietnam to explore investment opportunities,said VITAS Vice President Truong Van Cam. More FDI projects will arrive in thecountry’s textiles sector in the coming years, Cam added.

Once new-generation free tradeagreements (FTA), like the CPTPP and the EU-Vietnam FTA, enter into force,investment in the textile and garment industry will increase, offering a greatopportunity for machinery suppliers like Rieter, said a representative ofILLIES Vietnam.

Statistics by the VITASshowed that a total of nearly 15.9 billion USD in FDI had been injected intomore than 2,090 textile and garment projects in Vietnam by the end of last year.In the first half of 2018, the industry attracted another 2.8 billion USD inFDI.

The country is now among theleading exporters of textile and garments in Asia. Vietnam’s total textile andgarment exports have experienced a 3.6-fold increase over the past decade, from7.78 billion USD in 2007 to 31 billion USD in 2017. Last year’s figurerepresented 16 percent of the nation’s total export revenue.

This year, the sectorexpects to earn 35 billion USD from exports. –VNA