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Export values tumble in wake of economic crisis
Total export value this year will fall sharply compared to 2008 due to the global economic downturn, according to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu.
Khu said the year’s target for export value had been set at US$64.68 billion, 3 per cent higher than the 2008 total. But, in the first nine months of 2009, the global economic crisis drove the nation’s export value down to only $41.73 billion, 14.3 per cent lower than in the same period of 2008.
It would be impossible for exports to reach $22.95 billion in the final quarter of this year, Khu said.
Falling global prices of many export commodities didn’t help the situation, Khu said. The export value of agricultural, forestry and seafood products has dropped $2.7 billion, and the value of petroleum and mineral exports has shrunk by $5 billion.
With crude oil being the nation’s leading generator of export value, the country was now expected to see a total export value of $59 billion in 2009, 6 per cent lower than the last year’s total of $62.79 billion, Khu said, and this total would only be achieved if average global prices for crude oil remain around $60-65 per cent per barrel and the country is able to earn $5.3 billion per month from exports through the remainder of the year.
In the first nine months of the year, by comparison, export value has averaged only $4.64 billion per month.
The ministry, meanwhile, has already set a 2010 export target of $62.54 billion, 6 per cent higher than 2009’s projected total of $59 billion.
To reach such a target, export enterprises were being urged by the ministry to take greater advantage of free-trade agreements, both bilateral and multilateral between ASEAN and other trading partners.
The ministry also planned to increase and improve trade promotion programmes for 2010 to increase their effectiveness and diversify export markets.
vietnamnet, vietnamnews
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