Industry of apparel

The apparel and textile industry in Vietnam has overtaken crude oil as that country's No. 1 export.

During the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam shipped $7.5 billion in apparel and textiles to primarily the United States and Europe, according to the Vietnamese General Statistics Office.

Vietnam's apparel manufacturing sector has grown rapidly ever since the U.S. government early this year stopped monitoring Vietnamese apparel coming into the United States. The Bush administration feared that Vietnam would dump apparel goods on the U.S. market and started closely watching import prices in 2007 to determine whether anti-dumping duties should be imposed.

The Department of Commerce held six-month reviews of five different apparel products-trousers, shirts, underwear, accessories, swimwear and sweaters-but found no signs of dumping.

Footwear industry of Fiji is offering a significant contribution in poverty elevation of the country by employing around 4,000 workers and supporting over 8,000 humans below poverty line.

It will help the sector to improve its presence and penetration in the markets such as Australia, New Zealand and the US, and to achieve the target of bringing in $150 million revenue per year pro well as to employ more than 6,000 people.

The industry also recommends a new scheme to establish sewing factories in a bid to employ women, who are currently on welfare, to make them independent and also to support local people to cross over the poverty level.