Though Vietnam’s exporters are facing many challenges, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and new free trade agreements (FTAs) Vietnam has signed are opening up opportunities for them to increase outbound sales.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnamese shipments to the markets involving FTAs to which Vietnam is a signatory account for a fraction of their total imports. This means there is still much room for Vietnam’s goods to enter these markets.
Total import turnover of South Korea in 2014 was US$525 billion while Vietnam exported US$7.14 billion (1.4%) to this Northeast Asian country.
Also in 2014, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) imported US$394 billion worth of products, of which Vietnam made up US$1.96 billion, or only 0.5%.
The European Union (EU), the second biggest export market for Vietnam, imported US$27.9 billion worth of goods from Vietnam in 2014. However, goods from Vietnam were equivalent to only 1.25% of the EU’s total imports.
Commitments to market openness under trade deals will open the door wider for Vietnamese goods to enter many foreign markets.
Of US$5,094 billion in combined imports of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member states in 2014, around US$58 billion (1.16%) was from Vietnam.
Total imports of South Korea, EEU, EU and TPP countries amounted to US$8,245 billion, Vietnam accounted for a small 1.15%.
Vietnamese enterprises need to meet origin requirements and improve their production capacity if they want to ship more goods to foreign markets.
The ministry’s report showed falling export prices and volumes of many major farm produce and minerals in recent years as well as the slump in crude oil prices have greatly impacted the country’s export growth.
Vietnam exported an estimated US$162.4 billion worth of products last year, up 8.1%. Of which, agro-aqua-forestry products contributed 12.7%, down 6.7 percentage points year-on-year.
Declining export prices and volumes resulted in a turnover shortfall of US$4.65 billion, showed statistics of the ministry.
The export falls of major products were caused by abundant supplies and fiercer competition from other export countries including Thailand. In addition, many countries have weakened their currencies against the U.S. dollar to promote exports and taken measures to protect their agro-aqua-forestry sector.
Vietnam did not realize the export growth target last year with a growth rate of only 8.1% but expected growth of 10% this year. In the 2016-2020 period, the country’s average export growth target is 11% a year.
Source: http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/
Key words: Opportunities, await, Vietnamese exporters
