Vietnam’s textile and garments industry doubles down on eco-friendly fibres to boost exports

[HO CHI MINH CITY] When pineapples are harvested in Vietnam each year, tonnes of leaves from the plants are either left in the field to decompose or burned when the fields are cleared.

This led to Vu Thi Lieu, a professor at a university in Hanoi, recently appearing on a local TV programme where she did a presentation on the technology of producing fibre and yarns from these leaves.

And with Vietnam’s pineapple plantations occupying 40,000 hectares – Lieu thinks the exact size could be as large as 100,000 ha – there are plenty of opportunities for Vietnamese companies to turn this eco-friendly by-product into fibre and fabrics.