Chairman Le Quoc An from Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) expressed his opinion that it is difficult for Vietnam to reach the target of $9.5 billion in textile exports after textile/garment exports remained at $4.2 billion, up by 20% from the previous year, in the first half of the year (January to June) 2008.

Mr. An, the chairman of Vitas, said, "it will be very hard for Vietnam to achieve the export target figure of $9.5 billion in 2008 due to unfavorable business conditions for Vietnamese companies under the global economic slowdown," and pointed out problems to be solved including inflation in Vietnam, a shortage of workers, a rash of strikes, export monitoring and production infrastructure problems like electricity shortages.