The newly fixed quotas could soon be exhausted due to the explosive growth in textile and garment exports to the US this year.

Deputy Minister of Trade Mai Van Dau spoke in Ha Noi on how the Government hopes to smoothly operate the quota while exhorting the textile industry to seek elsewhere for markets.

He said shipments to the US are set to reach US$900 million in the first five months, equal to exports during the whole of last year. Dau said of the figure, almost $800 million would come from categories capped by the quotas. As a result, limits on some will run out by the end of this month and on many others by August.

The meet was held to spell out the rules governing the garment quotas worked out by the Ministries of Trade, Industry and Planning and Investment, the deputy minister revealed.

The quotas will be released in two doses, the first in a few days and the second by the end of this month.

From early July, all textile and garment items exported to the US must have Vietnamese "country of origin" labels issued by any of six Ministry of Trade (MoT) import/export offices in Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, HCM City, Vung Tau and Dong Nai.

Up-to-date information on allocating quotas and granting these labels will be made public through the mass media and MoT website.

Trade frauds by enterprises over these issues would entail stringent punishment, including revoking quotas already issued, withdrawing export licences to America or dragging the offenders to court, Dau said.

With the depletion of the quotas imminent, he said, exporters need to look at other markets like the EU and Japan and to export items falling under non-quota categories to the US.

These businesses can hope for marketing support from the Government through the national commercial promotion programme, the deputy minister promised.