The spread of the epidemic has caused serious disruptions to Vietnam's garment industry, and the situation of the global supply chain is worrying!

The global epidemic is spreading wildly, and now even Vietnam, which performed outstandingly in anti-epidemic work last year, has failed to hold on. Since July, the number of confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in Vietnam has exploded. As of now, Vietnam has more than 166,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and the area with the most serious epidemic is Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city.

According to recent news from the Ministry of Commerce , Vietnam's "Investment News" reported on August 4 that Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said that Vietnam's garment industry is facing severe challenges due to the severe impact of the new crown epidemic.

Due to the impact of the epidemic, most companies were unable to implement the "three-on-site" (on-site production, on-site dining, and on-site accommodation) model. Vietnam's main garment processing industry was severely hindered. Most workers returned to their hometowns to avoid the epidemic, and garment production in many provinces and cities was forced to stagnate.

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association said that even if the epidemic is brought under control in the future and provinces and cities reopen, the worker return rate is expected to be only 60-65%. When the supply chain is broken and Vietnam is no longer a stable market, customers will transfer orders to other countries, which will seriously affect the medium- and long-term development of the textile and garment industry. Vietnam's clothing and textile companies face the risk of international customers postponing or canceling orders and shifting their focus to other countries.

The Delta variant virus is raging wildly, posing a serious threat to Southeast Asian countries. It is understood that industrial production in seven Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, has recorded the largest contraction since May last year .

Southeast Asian countries have been affected by the epidemic, and global brands including Toyota and Nike have been forced to shut down their production bases in Vietnam due to the epidemic blockade. The stagnation of production is bound to cause a chain reaction on the global apparel industry .

US media recently reported: "The epidemic has caused factories in South Asia and Southeast Asia to close, increasing the risk of global supply chain disruptions, and American consumers may soon find local shelves empty." Data from the US Census Bureau showed that US retailers have only enough inventory on hand to maintain sales for more than a month, close to the lowest level since 1992 .

The epidemic in Vietnam may cause large-scale clothing production orders to flow back to the country, but the global clothing supply chain will undoubtedly be continuously affected.

Vietnam Epidemic

Vietnam Garment Industry