|
Vietnam exports expected to hit record high
With most of the sectors posting strong export increases, Vietnam’s total export turnover is expected to hit a record high of US$95 billion this year, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said at a meeting yesterday.
Bien said export turnover in the year to September rose by 35.4 percent year on year to $70 billion.
With this, he said, the country targeted to earn $8 billion from exports in every month of the last quarter to increase the full-year total export turnover to $95 billion from the $71.6 billion last year.
Pham Van Bay, deputy chairman of Vietnam Food Association, said rice export volume in the year to date topped the record 6 million tons.
He added that local rice exporters had contracted to export seven more tons in the last quarter, enabling them to achieve this year’s target.
Dinh Van Tien, head of export of Vietnam Rubber Association, said rubber exports in the first three quarters earned $2.27 billion, up by 60 percent compared with last year.
He said export prices would remain high towards this year’s end thanks to the rising demand against falling supply. “Rubber’s export turnover will surpass its $3.2 billion target of this year,” he said.
The manufacturing and processing sector also posted an impressive export turnover of $46.7 billion at the end of the third quarter, rising by 32 percent year on year and accounting for 66.6 percent of the country’s total export turnover.
The textile and garment sector still remained the top earner with a turnover of $10.5 billion, a 31.1 percent year-on-year increase.
Pham Xuan Hong, deputy chairman of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said new export markets had greatly contributed to the success.
For instance, he said, the Korean market had become one of the four largest export markets of the textile and garment sector after only two years. “Exports to this market are expected to rise by as many as 80 percent to $780 million this year.”
Risks still lurking ahead
Despite the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s optimistic forecast, many exporters said challenges and risks were waiting ahead in the last three months of this year.
Nguyen Cong Hoang, deputy CEO of Vinacafe, said local coffee exporters had difficulty competing with foreign firms due to capital shortage plus exorbitant lending rates.
He said banks agreed to give loans to coffee exporters only when they had export contracts. “We do not need the government to help us regarding lending rates,” he said. “What we need is to be able to borrow enough capital and at the appropriate time. “Otherwise, all of the domestic coffee production will be bought up by foreign companies when we have received the loans.”
The capital shortage is also hindering the cashew exporting sector.
Dang Hoang Giang, general secretary of the Vietnam Cashew Association, said that under bank loan pressures, many small-sized exporters had to sell cashew nuts at a loss to clear debts, pulling export prices down.
Price had dropped from $10 a kilogram in June to $8.5 a kilogram and was likely to slump further, he said.
Tran Quoc Manh, deputy chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City, said although the wood sector’s export turnover in the year to September saw a 16 percent increase, standing at $2.84 billion, local exporters still earned modest profits. “Input cost and other expenses have soared while prices of most of the export items do not increase,” he explained.
tuoitrenews
|
