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Exports reach nearly US$63 billion in 2008
Export turnover in 2008 reached nearly US$63 billion, an increase of 29.5 percent over last year despite the global economic downturn, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
However, the GSO said if there had been no re-exporting of steel and gold, which the country had imported in the early months of the year, Vietnam’s export turnover in the whole year might only add up to US$55.1 billion, amounting to a much smaller 13.5 percent surge.
Despite the shrinkage of the export market and price fluctuation in the global economic crisis, eight different export products earned the country more than US$2 billion each. In 2008, coffee and rice were added to the list of large-revenue earners.
Crude oil topped the list of export commodities with an export volume of 13.9 million tonnes worth US$10.4 billion. The crude oil export decreased by 7.7 percent in terms of volume, but surged 23.1 percent in terms of value.
Apparel exports reached US$9.1 billion, up 17.5 percent over last year. However, the industry still fell slightly short of its annual target of US$9.2 billion set by the Government.
With growth rates of 17.6 and 21.2 percent, footwear and seafood also fetched the country US$4.7 and US$4.5 billion, respectively.
The GSO said the US remained the country’s biggest export market this year with US$11.6 billion. Key export staples to the market include apparel, crude oil, wood and wood products, footwear and seafood.
ASEAN countries also made the list of Vietnam’s major export markets, since the region spent US$10.2 billion on importing goods from Vietnam.
The figures for EU and Japan were nearly US$10 billion and US$8.8 billion, respectively.
Despite the annual export achievement, GSO experts still warned about the downward trend in export turnover since August. The country hit a record low in November with only US$4.2 billion in export turnover. The figure in December inched up a little to US$4.9 billion.
The country’s trade deficit in 2008 was restricted to US$17 billion, roughly US$3 billion lower than expected.
This year the country imported a total of US$79.9 billion worth of goods, up 27.5 percent over last year, due to the soaring prices of many kinds of imported goods and materials in the first quarters of the year.
GSO experts said this year’s trade deficit could be held to less than US$16 billion if authorities and businesses could make better forecasts about global demand and price movement. Exporters of rice and coffee did not successfully increase exports at a time when prices for these products were high. Another issue was the importing of steel and fertilizer when the products’ prices were soaring.
There was a change in the proportion of import commodities in 2008, said the GSO. The country had to spend more on importing consumer goods, but less on importing materials and equipment. Disbursement for consumer goods increased consecutively in the last months of the year from US$287 million in August to US$390 in November.
Increased consumption of imported goods would create more competition for domestic producers, warned the GSO.
In 2008 the country had to spend US$10.8 billion on importing petrol, up 40.2 percent over last year, due to the soaring import price of the product in the first months of the year.
Meanwhile, a total of US$6.3 billion was spent on importing steel and iron this year. The figures for textile fabrics and electronic items were US$4.4 and US$3.7 billion, respectively.
VOV, VNS
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