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Exports likely to pass $70b this year, up 24%
Viet Nam's export turnover was estimated to total US$70.8 billion for the entire year, a year-on-year increase of 24 per cent, marking a 16.5 per cent increase on the predicted $60.5 billion, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) has announced.
At a meeting in Ha Noi earlier this week, MIT's Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Bien said that the industrial and processing products group revenues reached $44 billion, accounted for a major proportion of the 11-month-total export turnover of $64.3 billion.
Export revenue averaged $5.86 billion a month, which was higher than the planned figure of $5.04 billion.
"The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector played a leading role in creating export value as its export revenue continuously increased, from 52.4 per cent to 54.1 per cent in 2009-10 and it will continue to be the case in the coming period," Bien said, adding that the sector had focused on several key export commodities including textiles and garments, footwear, wood products, computer and accessories, machinery and components.
The growth of export turnover in the past 11 months was attributed to the increase in most commodity prices, including agricultural products from 4.8 per cent to 83.8 per cent; Crude oil, 33.9 per cent; And coal, 53.2 per cent.
Of agricultural product, cassava saw the highest increase of 83.8 per cent; Rubber, 81.2 per cent; Cashew, 21.2 per cent; Pepper, 39 per cent; Tea, 11 per cent; And rice, 4.8 per cent.
However, the quantity of exported fuel and mineral commodities experienced a dramatic decline with crude oil, coal and minerals, recording a drop of 42.2 per cent, 26.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. Although facing difficulties regarding input materials and trade barriers from foreign markets, seafood still saw the highest growth in export revenue at an estimated $4.9 billion, 6.5 per cent higher than planned, a year-on-year increase of 16.4 per cent.
Rice export prices surged significantly since the beginning of last month, ranging from $490 to $500 per tonne. Higher export prices and stable demand for rice from importers will assure rice export revenues reach 6.6 million tonnes or $3.08 billion for the entire year.
MIT also announced that there was a shortage of coffee supply for the global market, causing coffee prices to continue increasing which in turn would buoy Viet Nam's coffee products. This year, coffee exports were estimated at 1.15 million tonnes accounting for a revenue of $1.74 billion, 4.5 per cent higher in volume and 1.5 per cent greater in earnings than expected.
Pepper exports were also predicted to increase around 24.4 per cent in comparison with the same period last year, or $433 million, despite a decline of 10.4 per cent in volume. Thanks to continuously increasing prices, export rubber revenues will reach $2.23 billion; Double that of last year, as exports were predicted to total 760,000 tonnes. Despite an increase in costs for input materials, textile and garment revenues exceeded $1billion last month.
MIT estimated textile and garment revenues of the entire year would total $11 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.3 per cent, surpassing the 5.1 per cent planned, worth $500 million. It also predicted that the entire year's trade deficit would be estimated at $12 billion with a total import turnover of $83 billion. Of this, the FDI sector saw a significant increase of 40.3 per cent in imports, five times that of the domestic sector. Despite the fact that the country's export turnover saw optimistic signs, Bien also forecast that next year would prove difficult for Vietnamese exporters.
"The target of keeping the trade deficit under 18 per cent will not be easy as forex, high interest rates, and stiffer trade barriers will affect Vietnamese exporters," Bien said.
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