The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) recently warned that the country's garment industry's development is likely to decelerate although the industry's exports grew by almost 30% in the first three quarters of the year, according to a news report on Vietnam's online newspaper VOV.

The slowdown was attributed to the economic downturn in the US and Europe, with orders received from the two markets for the coming months having gone down by 10% already.

In the first nine months of the year, Vietnam's garment industry recorded export revenues of US$10.3 billion, up by 28%. The industry' export revenues for the whole year are expected to reach the target of US$13.5 billion, an increase of 10% from the previous year.

As reported, jacket is the most affected item, with many firms seeing orders plunge by 30%. Exports to Europe are forecast to decline by 10-15%.

As a result, the country's apparel exporters have been switching to other markets like Japan, South Korea and Canada.