The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) on March 29 released the Vietnam Import-Export Report 2016 report, which gives an overall and systematic assessment of the country’s external trade in the past year.
The report also presents the figures for each specific group of commodities and each market, along with the situation of negotiations on and implementation of free trade agreements with foreign partners.
Major issues related to the MOIT’s foreign trade management, including mechanisms and policies, trade promotion programmes, measures to promote exports and remove obstacles for the sector and efforts at trade facilitation and trade defence, were included in the document.
The report noted that total export revenue in 2016 reached VND176.6 billion, a year-on-year rise of 9%.
Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh noted that Vietnam still maintained the growth trend in exports despite falling prices and demand on the global market, showing the country’s effective efforts in opening its markets, as well as the endeavours of the business community.
It is noteworthy that the ratio of processed products in exports increased to nearly 80%, reflecting a transformation of the sector towards fewer exports of raw products and more of processed ones, including products with high value, he asserted.
Khanh also noted that exports to major markets such as the EU and the US continued to increase by over 10% during last year.
Meanwhile, Tran Thanh Hai, Vice Director of the MOIT’s Export and Import Administration, assessed that amidst the changing world economy, Vietnam’s export growth of 9% is a positive result compared to the previous year, as well as to other countries in the region.
He pointed out that many regional countries suffered falls in export revenue, including China with 7.7%, India with 1.3% and Malaysia 4.9%, while Thailand saw a slight increase of 0.5%.
He noted that the growth of exports significantly contributed to improving the payment balance as well as GDP growth, while creating more jobs and selling more products for farmers.
It also reflected the recovery of domestic production, added Hai.
According to him, the export expansion last year also helped improve the trade balance, with a trade surplus of about VND2.52 billion, contributing to increasing foreign currency reserves, stabilising prices as well as the macroeconomy.
Imports of materials, fuel, machinery and equipment serving domestic production accounted for 88% of the total import revenue, he said, holding that this was a positive sign, laying the prerequisite for the development of import-export as well as the economy in the years ahead.
Source: Nhan Dan
Key words: exports, enjoy, strong growth, 2016 report
