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Trade with UK surges on exports
The two-way trade turnover between Viet Nam and the UK reached US$4.37 billion in 2012, rising 35.5 per cent from 2011.
According to statistics from the Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK and Northern Ireland, Viet Nam received a total $3.9 billion from exporting goods to the UK, up 44.3 percent from 2011.
The country's key exports included tea, coffee, mechanical equipment, plastic and leather products. In the same period, Viet Nam was also active in shipping household items such as furniture, electric devices, garments and footwear. Meanwhile, Viet Nam's imports were valued at a total $467.47 million, down 11.3 per cent from the previous year.
The country's chief imports from the UK were chemicals, machinery, pharmaceutical products, animal feed, and rubber products.
In January this year, bilateral trade value climbed 67 per cent from the same period last year to around $484 million.
Viet Nam was the 43rd largest trade partner with the UK out of a total 235 worldwide and accounted for 0.34 per cent of market shares between the UK and the rest of the world.
The country ranked 34th among the 229 countries exporting to the UK in 2012 and 73rd among its 230 import customers.
The Embassy's trade counsellor Nguyen Thi Hong Thuy noted the difficulties confronting the global economy in 2013 and the enduring repercussions of the Eurozone's debt crisis.
Therefore, maintaining a high bilateral trade turnover as in recent years will prove to be a major challenge for businesses of both nations.
However, Thuy said that 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties, with both nations having planned a diverse range of celebratory activities that will hopefully contribute to the continued growth of the bilateral trade relationship.
According to Thuy, poor language skills and lack of knowledge in trade, laws, culture, and international business customs contribute to the hindrance of Vietnamese goods being shipped overseas.
In order to expand trade relations sustainably, she suggested that Vietnamese businesses must focus on improving knowledge in these areas along with intensifying trade promotion activities
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