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Vietnam exports to US grow most among East Asia nations
Vietnamese exports to the US expanded at the fastest pace among major economies in East Asia, outperforming competitors including China with the help of lower-cost shipments amid a worsening global economy.
Vietnamese shipments to the US climbed 21 percent through October to US$10.5 billion, according to the US International Trade Commission. The pace was unchanged from the rate through September, when export growth to Vietnam’s largest market accelerated for the first time since January.
That compares with a 6 percent expansion in Chinese shipments to the US, and also outpaces Thai and Indonesian exports to the world’s largest economy. Vietnam’s government is trying to increase overseas sales to help economic growth reach a target of 6.5 percent next year.
“Vietnamese exports held up surprisingly well in the first year of the global recession,” said Scott Robertson, chief economist at Dragon Capital, a Ho Chi Minh City-based fund manager. “An emerging scenario is Vietnam cannibalizing regional electronics production as the low-cost, higher-margin manufacturer, even with stagnating global demand.”
Exports in the two categories including electrical machinery rose 29 percent to $683 million. Apparel shipments climbed 23 percent through October to $4.37 billion.
Vietnam benefits from exporting cheaper goods than its competitors, VinaSecurities Joint-Stock Co. said December 10 citing textile products as having the potential to gain market share in an environment of lower consumer spending.
‘Lower-end consumption’
“There is perhaps some shifting from higher-end to lower-end consumption,” said Jonathan Pincus, an economist with the Vietnam Program at the Harvard Kennedy School in Ho Chi Minh City, in e-mailed comments.
Furniture exports to the US climbed 19 percent to $1.19 billion, while footwear shipments advanced 15 percent to $1.01 billion, up from a 13 percent pace of growth year-onyear through September.
The value of oil shipments surged 72 percent to $569 million, boosted by a 60 percent increase in the average price of crude during the first 10 months of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier.
Vietnamese export growth in the coming months may be hurt by the recent decline in commodity prices, according to Robertson at Dragon Capital.
Seafood shipments advanced 7 percent through October to $610 million, while coffee exports rose 2 percent to $266 million, down from a 5 percent rate of growth through September.
“The effects of falling coffee prices are already being felt by Vietnam’s coffee growers, some of whom have already started holding more stock,” wrote Nguyen Thi Huong and Tran Quoc Quan, specialists at the US agricultural attache’s office in Vietnam, in a November report.
US exports to Vietnam grew 69 percent through October to $2.34 billion, down from an 83 percent rate of expansion through September. Vehicle shipments from the US to Vietnam climbed 80 percent to $301 million.
Bloomberg
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