As you know from our previous blogs, Vietnam is steadily making headway in the manufacturing industry. More and more companies are turning to Vietnam instead of traditional manufacturing hubs such as China due to social, geographical and economic reasons. The country is rapidly developing economically and through its infrastructure with a new subway system in Ho Chi Minh City and new highways across the country. As it becomes even more accessible, it will continue to grow in popularity for businesses looking to outsource their manufacturing.
With this in mind, we thought it would be interesting to look at five of their top exports.
Electrical Equipment
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Vietnam’s largest export in 2018 was electrical equipment - accounting for 38% of its total exports with an estimated value of $94 BN. As technology becomes essential to our everyday lives, Vietnam has kept up and made sure they are a key player in their manufacturing, producing products such as wires, phones, motors and more. They are now extremely proficient in highly complex and technical manufacturing, giving way for clothing and textile manufacturing to also grow in skill with the country’s higher overall manufacturing standards.
As well as being the country’s top export, this is also Vietnam’s fastest-growing category: from 2016 to 2017 it rose by 64.3%. If Vietnam can handle all this technical equipment, imagine how well it can handle your business’ technical apparel and bag requirements.
Footwear
Clothing and textile manufacturing is thriving in Vietnam, and the footwear category specifically has grown impressively in the last few years. They have moved from being fourth worldwide, behind India and Brazil, to being the second biggest footwear manufacturer in the world.
In fact, Vietnam has recently become the main manufacturer for Adidas and Nike footwear (currently the 1st and 2nd largest footwear brands in the world). The trend for fashion brands to move their manufacturing to Vietnam has allowed factories such as Kowide Outdoors to contribute to a thriving market.
Machinery
Another one of Vietnam’s top exports is machinery, which includes everything from machine tools to computer chips to anything in between. Vietnam does not excel as well as China in this sector but they are still prolific enough to make it their 3rd most profitable export, accounting for $14.6BN (roughly 5.9% of total exports). While this is a relatively smaller number when compared to their other exports, it should be noted that this category requires more specialized knowledge and skills than other products and remains a very profitable category. Much like the earlier electrical equipment category, Vietnam’s prowess here shows off just how strong their technical and more complex manufacturing capabilities have become.
Clothing (& Leather)
Clothing manufacturing is another area where we have seen the most development in Vietnam. Many of the world’s biggest fashion brands have moved their manufacturing to Vietnam, such as Nike and Adidas. The Clothing manufacturing industry is worth up to $30 billion. Here at Kowide Outdoors, we have been ahead of this trend for 30+ years and manufacture a range of products from automotive specialty bags to extensive active gear and leather bags – one of the top items exported in Vietnamese clothing manufacturing. We are also one of the top duffle bag and down jacket manufacturers in Vietnam. Custom manufacturing is our specialty, working for fashion brands such as SNOWMAN New York and Henri Lloyd.
Knit or Crochet
Very similar to the clothing sector, this export brings in $13.8BN for Vietnam (5.6% compared to 5.8% for clothing). With better machinery and a focus on the training of factory workers, Vietnam has recently increased its specialization in this area as well.
If you’re looking to outsource your manufacturing, Vietnam should be at the top of your list of countries to consider. If technical apparel or bag manufacturing is an area of interest for you, take a look at our portfolio or place an inquiry today.