Fox & Lillie Rural General Manager, Daniel Charters and Fox & Lillie Wool Trader, Andrew Worthington recently visited Vietnam as part of a group of wool industry businesses organised by Wool Producers Australia to look at opportunities for Australian wool.
Vietnam is the world’s second largest textile manufacturer with USD$44 billion of all fibres exported last year. Their industry has capacity for 15-20 million clean kilos of wool spinning through to garment production, which equates to around 160,000 bales.
The Vietnamese Government are keen to develop manufacturing capability as currently all wool tops come out of China and are looking for investment in early-stage processing. Vietnam is well positioned with a lower cost structure than China, the average factory worker working 48 hours per week earns USD $400 per month.
During the trip, Daniel visited several wool-processing businesses, including LPTEX Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh. Established in 1960, LPTEX has operations in weaving right through to garment manufacturing with capacity for 1500 tonne spinning and five million metres of fabric. Daniel reported that LPTEX source 17.5 – 20-micron RWS wool and are producing impressive volumes of garments for high-end fashion brands.
The delegation also visited the NDT Südwolle Group mill and attended the opening of their new dye house in Da Lat. “It was refreshing to see the massive investment in the later stage processing of wool into garments” said Daniel, “Südwolle is a modern set up with a spinning capacity of 4000 tons and 50% of power for their plant is solar / wind turbines.”
The visit also highlighted the level of support from Australian industry bodies and state and federal government. Daniel and Andrew met the Australian Ambassador designate, Gillian Bird, in Hanoi and attended a networking event at the Australian Consulate in Ho Chi Minh where it was evident that there was support from both countries to further cooperation and investment opportunities in wool trade and manufacturing.
Daniel was impressed with the level of awareness of Australian wool and questions about RWS supply, and that “traceability from farm to garment will become crucial to guarantee the origin and quality of wool being manufactured.” The situation in the USA was also a key topic with reports of USD $126 billion worth of produce sent from Vietnam. “Many Vietnamese businesses that the delegation met were generally quite concerned with the large tariffs that the US had placed on them and were hoping this would resolve itself.”
Click on the link to see a short video of the Vietnam Business Delegation
Image: Daniel Charters, Madam Rose Tran, Vice President of LPTEX Vietnam, Andrew Worthington
