The Woolmark Company, the Australian Wool Innovation’s (AWI) marketing subsidy, is targeting to consume 3 per cent of Vietnam’s US $ 27 billion textile export market in the coming four years.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Vietnamese market more than a decade ago, Woolmark has spent nearly US $ 1 million annually to diversify its supply chain in Bangladesh, Russia, Belorussia, and Ukraine with a major focus on Vietnam.
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During a visit to one of 40 Vietnam-based factories using wool for the first time this year, AWI Vietnam Consultant, Tran Van Quyen elaborated that it was a realistic goal for Australian wool to infiltrate US $ 810 million of the Vietnamese textiles and garment exports market by 2020. He adds that to get a bigger chunk in the Vietnamese textile market, education will be a key strategy, mentioning that several companies have now been trained in the dyeing, knitting and finishing processes and have already started on commercial orders. Encouraging Vietnam to start early stage processing of wool, AWI hopes that Vietnam could be an alternative to Australia’s heavy reliance on China as the major buyer of greasy wool.
While wool entered the emerging market of Vietnam in 2012, in the 2014-15 financial year, Vietnamese textile market acquired 800,000 kilograms of Australian wool, mainly through early stage processing mills in China.
