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Exports make a modest recovery
The export sector has overcome difficult times and begun to show signs of recovery after a long period of stagnation and decline, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Rice is the only product that has maintained positive growth since the beginning of this year. Rice businesses have so far shipped nearly 4.3 million tonnes and fetched approximately US$2 billion, up 46 percent in volume and 4 percent in value from a year ago.
Garments – another key export item – have only suffered a 1-percent decline, raking in more than US$5 billion.
Notably, precious gemstones have achieved the highest export growth in the last seven months, generating US$2.6 billion, a four-fold increase over last July.
Other farm products, including seafood, footwear and rattan and bamboo products have also seen a slight increase in their export value.
However, total export value has fallen 13.4 percent year on year to US$32.3 billion. Crude oil has seen the sharpest fall, at 45 percent, followed by rubber (43 percent), coal (18 percent), cashewnuts (17.7 percent) and coffee (16 percent).
One worry is that the trade deficit for July has reached a four-month record high of US$1.25 billion, bringing to US$3.4 billion the total trade deficit in the past seven months, making up 10.5 percent of the total export value.
The Ministry of Trade aims to earn US$64.57 billion from exports and maintain the trade deficit at between US$10-12 billion. To meet the target, it will continue to restructure export items, focusing on manufactured and processed products, and to develop new products in the remaining months of this year.
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