The pandemic caused an increase in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) in Vietnam’s manufacturing industry. And the influx of orders from around the world boosted the country’s vital garment-making industry, with many factories retooling their facilities to produce personal protective equipment.
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country has over 6,000 garment factories and textile mills, hiring over 3 million people by 2020.
To ensure that there was a sufficient domestic supply to help fight the virus, the Vietnamese government initially banned the export of items such as face masks. According to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, after the restrictions were lifted in March of last year, Vietnamese manufacturers exported nearly 1.2 billion masks to North America, Europe, and Asia through December 2020.
As the pandemic spread and global demand slowed, Vietnam’s important garment industry saw orders drop drastically. In 2020, Vietnam’s garment and textile exports fell for the first time in a quarter-century, marking the first time the country has seen negative growth.
VGE (Vietnam Goods and Exports) was one of the companies that began producing cloth face masks. VGE founder Anh Tran said he made the decision to move in early 2020 and expects his product will continue to be in demand.
“Despite the fact that vaccines are now available, the [Centers for Disease Control] still urges people to wear masks because the rollout is slow and there are still many at-risk people you can influence or be affected by,” he said.
“If vaccinations are successful, you’ll probably see less people wearing masks by the end of 2021, but before then, it’s still a huge industry that exploded overnight. It’s been nuts in terms of global demand since the beginning.”
Anh reported that Vietnam had always excelled at garment manufacturing and low-tech products such as face masks, gowns, hand sanitizers, wipes, and other similar pieces. “In 2020, Vietnam will undoubtedly become a bright star in the global PPE trade, as most PPE was previously produced in China or the United States,” he added.
The Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade is optimistic about the potential of the garment and textile industries to produce personal protective equipment (PPE), especially in the antibacterial cloth mask segment. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Import-Export Department, told the Vietnam News Agency that Vietnam has the potential to become one of the world’s leading cloth face mask manufacturers. He assumed that by combining the fact that anti-bacterial fabric was now being manufactured locally, production potential could be greatly increased.
“It’s crucial to raise customer consciousness about cloth masks and encourage them to use them instead of medical masks,” Hai said.
The rapid growth of the PPE manufacturing sector aided the economy in some areas, but the massive global demand has generated its own set of production capacity challenges.
The rapid growth of the PPE manufacturing sector aided the economy in some areas, but the massive global demand has generated its own set of production capacity challenges.
The PPE manufacturing sector’s rapid expansion aided the economy in several ways, but the massive global demand has created its own collection of production capacity issues.
“A lot of the business has come to Vietnam because of the US trade war with China and the less-than-desirable products coming from there, but there is still not enough ability in the country to meet the demand for the product,” he said.
