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VN hopes to export $15b annually to Latin America
Viet Nam's exports to Latin America were expected to reach US$6 billion in 2015 and about $13 to $15 billion in 2020, according to an export scheme approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The ministry's plans also target a national export growth rate of 25 to 30 per cent annually, increasing its market share in Latin America from the current 0.18 per cent to 0.4 per cent in 2015 and 1 per cent in the next five years.
With a population of more than 570 million, the Latin American market represented untapped potential for Vietnamese exporters, said Deputy Head of the Ministry's American Market Department Pham Ba Uong.
Great distances, insufficient market information and harsh competition from other Asian businesses has presented huge challenges to Vietnamese companies hoping to break the Latin America market, said Uong.
The ministry's plan urges Vietnamese exporters to diversify products for export and organise more trade and investment promotion activities.
Updating information on consumer demands in Latin America and effectively advertising Vietnamese goods via overseas trade fairs and exhibitions while creating closer links with Vietnamese commercial offices in the region were also necessary, according to the ministry.
Nguyen Hai Tinh, another expert at the department, emphasised the importance of establishing partner relationships that could better facilitate technical transfers between firms and develop distribution channels in each other's countries.
Joining hands in building factories in Viet Nam to re-export goods was also a co-operation possibility, Tinh said.
Viet Nam's exports to Latin America were estimated to top $1.8 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 40.6 per cent, according the ministry.
The ministry attributed the increase to the continuing recovery of the world economy.
"Better economic conditions are one of the main reasons pushing up Vietnamese export turnover to Latin America. In addition, the prices of many products have increased, which have helped the total export value," Uong said.
Viet Nam's key export items to the region include footwear, garments and textiles, aqua-cultural products, electronics, cement, steel and wooden furniture, with Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Panama and Chile being the largest markets for Vietnamese exporters.
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