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Export target won’t be easy to meet: Trade official
Low demand in major markets that have yet to overcome the global economic crisis will make it difficult for Vietnam to reach its export growth target of 3 percent in 2009, said a deputy trade minister.
It would be a great success if the country’s export value this year could even match last year’s, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Huu Hao at a government press briefing in Hanoi Wednesday.
Export turnovers dropped 13.4 percent year-on-year to $32.35 billion in the first seven months of 2009.
Foreign-invested firms reaped export revenues of $12.24 billion between January and July, excluding crude oil.
Hao said anticipated shipments would not affect the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth goal of 5 percent this year.
The decrease in export earnings was due to low demand in importing countries and price drops for many products, he said. Lower prices cut export revenues by more than $6 billion in the seven-month period.
The average price of crude oil fell 53.1 percent, while rubber dropped 45.8 percent, pepper 33.2 percent, coffee 29.24 percent, rice 28.6 percent and cashew nuts 19.5 percent.
Last year, the country earned $62.9 billion on exports, up 29.5 percent over 2007, according to the General Statistics Office.
So far this year, the trade surplus has reached $3.38 billion, or 10.5 percent of the export revenue, much lower than that of 40.8 percent in the same period of 2008.
In the seven-month period, the country spent $35.37 billion on imported goods, a 34 percent drop year-on-year.
Ngan Anh
thanhnien
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