|
Exports tumble 15 points
Vietnam’s exports fell 15 per cent in April against the previous month, which was mostly attributed to the drop in revenue of gold and gemstone, according to official figures.
Preliminary estimates by the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed that Vietnam exported $4.5 billion worth of goods in April, down from $5.31 billion reported in March.
Gold and gemstone exports made the biggest fall of 98.6 per cent to $15 million in April from $1.08 billion a month ago. Most key farming and processing exports meanwhile gained a slight increase both in volume and revenue, according to the GSO.
Former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen said the central bank’s decision to widen the foreign exchange trading band of the Vietnam dong to the US dollar had actually helped support the country’s exports, making Vietnamese products relatively cheaper than the same goods in overseas markets.
In late March, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) widened the currency’s trading band to 5 per cent from 3 per cent in an effort to encourage exports while discouraging imports.
Although exports increased slightly a month after the SBV’s decision, local exporters are still worried about their earnings in the time to come with the continuance of the global economic turbulence and the shrinking of their key markets in the United States, the European Union and Japan.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) recently anticipated that Vietnam would continue face many difficulties in exporting seafood products, one of the country’s key foreign currency earners, because of the narrowing markets. According to MARD’s forecast, seafood exporters can this year sell their products to only 112 countries and territories, compared to 149 markets in 2008.
Stricter technical requirements, particularly in the US with the adoption of the Farm Bill 2008, will make Vietnamese catfish exporters face many other difficulties, according to Nguyen Huu Dung, chairman of the Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Producers. “Under the bill, Vietnamese catfish must be manufactured and controlled in quality by a system equivalent to that in the US, which is a really challenges for Vietnamese producers and exporters,” Dung said.
Although Vietnamese firms made a small increase in seafood exports in April, their overseas earnings in the first four months of this year declined by 7.1 per cent year-on-year to $1.05 billion. Vietnam’s total exports in the first four months reached $18.63 billion while importing $17.83 billion worth of goods. Excluding gold and gemstone exports, which reached $2.54 billion, Vietnam sold $16.09 billion worth of goods abroad, incurring a $1.74 billion trade deficit in the January-April period.
VietNamNet, VIR
|
