Despite growing material prices, Vietnam raked in close to 4.2 billion USD from textile and garment exports in the first half of the year, a year-on-year rise of 20 percent.

The US remained Vietnam’s largest export market, with a turnover of 2.4 billion USD, making up 57 percent of the country’s total revenues, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas) said.

The European Union (EU) came in second, generating 780 million USD, while Japan ranked third with 360 million USD.

According to Vitas, the US Department of Commerce’s failure to find proof of anti-dumping conduct of Vietnam’s textiles and garments industry was a good sign for the sector’s export activities in the future.

To reach the target of 5.3 billion USD, local businesses should make greater efforts for the second half of the year when they still face difficulties, including increasing material prices, high loan interest rates, human resource shortages, and high inflation, Vitas Chairman Le Quoc An said.

An said that in addition to the challenges, the industry has many advantages. He said it has received a lot of orders and there is no concern about anti-dumping lawsuits.

The official recommended businesses increase exports of high value-added and new products in order to reduce the impacts of monitoring operations imposed by importing nations.

Enterprises should be more active in expanding into new markets, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, and fix their shortcomings in management and productivity, An said.