HANOI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam gained over 19.4 billion U.S. dollars from exporting garments and textiles in the first eight months of this year, up 14.9 percent on-year, the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association said on Thursday.

In the eight-month period, the value of Vietnamese garments and textiles, including T-shirts, jackets, dresses and fabrics exported to China, surged 43.1 percent, to ASEAN up 33.9 percent, to Japan 21.9 percent, to South Korea 17.7 percent, and to the United States 10.4 percent.

Vietnam, which is among the world's five biggest exporters and producers of garments and textiles, may make garment and textile export turnovers of 35 billion U.S. dollars this year, 1 billion dollars higher than the target set for the year, partly due to the signing of new free trade agreements, the association predicted, adding that its turnovers were 31.2 billion U.S. dollars last year.

However, Vietnam had to spend over 8.5 billion U.S. dollars importing cloth in the first eight months of this year, up 16.1 percent, the association said, noting that most of local cloth has yet to satisfy quality requirements of the country's key garment export markets.