ベトナムの長期ロックダウン、世界のアパレル大手に打撃

【ハノイＡＦＰ＝時事】ベトナムで導入された長期間に及ぶ新型コロナウイルス対策の厳格なロックダウン（都市封鎖）により、米スポーツ用品大手ナイキや米アパレル大手ギャップなど、ベトナムに依存してきた世界的アパレルブランドの生産に影響が出ている。（写真は資料写真）
　ベトナム工場での混乱は世界経済の回復にも影を落としている。
　首都ハノイの東にある繊維メーカー「フンイエン・ニット・アンド・ダイイング」の工場は、アパレル大手サプライチェーン（部品供給網）の要となっている。同社の生地はナイキやアディダス、ギャップといったアパレルブランドの水着やスポーツウエアに使用されている。
　イタリア人幹部クラウディア・アンセルミ氏は、日々操業できるかどうか気が気でないと話す。
　ベトナムが新型コロナウイルス流行の第４波に見舞われた今春、同社の生産量は半減し、今なお合成繊維の生産に必要な材料の確保に苦労している。
　「最初は（外出制限で）みんな家から出られなかったので人手不足に陥った」とアンセルミ氏は話した。今は移動制限により入荷から出荷までの全物流が危機にあるという。「材料が無ければ生き残れない」
　地区を分断する形で設置された検問所や複雑な移動規制に、トラック運転手も物流会社も振り回されてきた。
　フランスの物流企業「ＦＭロジスティック」の現地法人責任者、ハムザ・ハルティ氏によると、カントー市に入るために車内で３日３晩待たされた運転手もいる。
　外資系企業は近年、中国から東南アジアに軸足を移しており、この動きは米中間の激しい貿易戦争により加速した。そうした企業にとり、物流の遅延や制限は大きな頭痛の種となっている。
　国営メディアによるとベトナム縫製協会は８月、新型コロナウイルスの感染が拡大した南部では、アパレル部門のサプライチェーンの最大９０％が影響を受けたと発表した。

■生産拠点の移転も
　ナイキは先週、スポーツウエアの在庫不足を訴え、売り上げ見通しを下方修正した。中でもベトナムを名指しし、国内工場の半分近く、南部に限ると８割の工場が閉鎖していると説明した。ナイキは靴製品の約半数をベトナムで生産している。
　カジュアル衣料品チェーン「ユニクロ」を傘下に置くファーストリテイリングもセーターやスエットパンツ、パーカなどの入荷が滞っているのは、ベトナムの状況によるものだとしている。
　さらにアディダスは、ベトナムを含むサプライチェーンの支障により、年末までに５億ユーロ（約６５０億円）相当の売り上げ減となる見通しを発表している。
　ベトナム経済の中心地、南部ホーチミンのロックダウンは１日、解除された。だが、製造業への長期的な影響を懸念する人は多く、ナイキとアディダスは生産拠点の一時的な移転を検討していると認めた。
　米国、欧州連合（ＥＵ）、韓国、東南アジア諸国を代表する複数の経済団体は、ベトナムのファム・ミン・チン首相宛ての書簡で、生産拠点移転の可能性を警告した。加盟企業全体の２０％がすでに移転済みだという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/10/04-10:40）

From shoes and sweaters to car parts and coffee, Vietnam's strict and lengthy coronavirus lockdown has sparked product shortages among worldwide brands such as Nike and Gap which have grown increasingly dependent on the Southeast Asian nation's manufacturers.
The snarl-ups at Vietnam's factories are part of a broader crisis around the planet that is sending inflation surging and raising concerns about the pace of recovery in the global economy.
At a fabric mill east of Hanoi, Claudia Anselmi -- the Italian director of Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing, a key cog in the supply chain of several European and US clothing giants -- worries daily if the factory can keep the lights on.
Its output plunged by 50 percent when Vietnam's latest devastating virus wave first struck in spring, and it faces perpetual problems securing the yarn it needs for its synthetic material.
At first we were lacking people (to work) because everyone was stuck at home, said Anselmi, whose company's fabric is later used in swimwear and sportswear for customers including Nike, Adidas and Gap.
Now, travel restrictions have jeopardised all logistics in and out... this has created long, long delays, she told AFP. We only survive if we have the stock.
While lockdowns are gradually loosening across the country as infections steadily decline, millions of Vietnamese have been under stay-at-home orders for months.
And a complex web of checkpoints and confusing travel permit regulations have made life impossible for truck drivers and businesses trying to move goods across, as well and in and out of, the country.
Hamza Harti, managing director at FM Logistic Vietnam, said several drivers in the Mekong Delta had been forced to wait three days and nights in their vehicle to enter the city of Can Tho.
They were without food, without anything, he told a French Chamber of Commerce panel discussion in Hanoi.
- Shifting production -
The delays and restrictions are a major headache for foreign businesses, many of which have pivoted to Southeast Asia from China in recent years -- a trend accelerated by the bruising trade war between Washington and Beijing.
In the south -- the epicentre of Vietnam's fight against Covid-19 -- up to 90 percent of supply chains in the garment sector were broken, the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) said in August, according to state media.
Nike -- which warned last week it was struggling with shortages of its athletic gear and cut its sales forecasts -- pointed the finger at Vietnam, among others, saying 80 percent of its factories in the south and nearly half of its apparel plants in the country had shut their doors.
The sports colossus sources around half of its footwear from the communist country.
Although some factories were able to set up a system where staff could eat, work and sleep on site to get around lockdown restrictions, Vitas said that the cost was prohibitive for many.
Japan's Fast retailing, which owns the popular Uniqlo brand, also blamed the situation in Vietnam for hold-ups on sweaters, sweatpants, hoodies and dresses, while Adidas said supply chain issues -- including in the country -- could cost it as much as 500 million euros ($585 million) in sales by the end of the year.
Even with the prospect of lockdowns easing, many are fretting over the long-term impact on Vietnamese manufacturing, with Nike and Adidas admitting they were looking to temporarily produce elsewhere.
In a letter to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, leading business associations representing the United States, the European Union, South Korea and Southeast Asian nations sounded the alarm over production shifting away from Vietnam, warning 20 percent of its manufacturing members had already left.
Once production shifts, it is difficult to return, they wrote.
Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet, deputy general director of Maxport Vietnam, whose 6,000 workers churn out activewear for the likes of Lululemon, Asics and Nike, told AFP the firm had been very worried about clients withdrawing orders -- even though it was one of the lucky few to have navigated recent brutal months largely unscathed.
Without foreign customers our workers would become jobless, she said.
- Coffee, cars -
The pandemic has not only hit the country's textile industry but is also threatening global coffee supplies, with Vietnam the world's largest producer of robusta beans -- the variety used in instant coffee. Prices for the commodity are now sitting at a four-year high.
Car companies have not escaped either -- Toyota slashed production for September and October owing partly to virus issues, telling AFP the impact has been big in Vietnam, as well as Malaysia.
Shortages have been made worse by a rise in demand in the West after a virus-induced slump.
Back at her textile mill near Hanoi, Anselmi believes companies will stick with Vietnam if it can return to some kind of normality in October.
If we can allow the factories to work then I think the trust (in Vietnam) is still there.