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Cellphones lead export growth
Viet Nam's exports in April edged up 9.1 per cent from a year ago to US$9.7 billion. Exports of mobile phones and components accounted for $5.8 billion, up 92.3 per cent year-on-year.
Other items enjoying high export volume included garments and textiles with $5.1 billion (up 20.3 per cent) and electronics and computers with $3.2 billion (up 46.1 per cent).
Items with lower export volume were seafood with $1.7 billion (down 4.8 per cent), coffee with $1.3 billion (down 13.7 per cent) and rubber with $639 million (down 20.6 per cent).
Total exports in the first four months of the year were estimated at $39.4 billion, up 16.9 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
The domestic sector accounted for $13.9 billion – an increase of 7 per cent – while the foreign invested sector surged 23.2 per cent to $25.5 billion.
According to a recent HSBC report, Viet Nam's export growth will remain strong both this year and next, contributing greatly to the country's gross domestic product and ensuring a continued account surplus.
The bank's economists expect that by the end of 2014, exports will be responsible for about 90 per cent of Viet Nam's economic growth. The continued rise of exports supported by remittance inflow will allow Viet Nam to maintain its account surplus for the next two years.
The bank expects Viet Nam's trade surplus this year to account for 2.7 per cent of GDP, compared to 0.8 per cent last year. Viet Nam earned a trade surplus of $780 million in 2012.
Viet Nam exported an estimated $12.64 billion worth of mobile phones and spare parts in 2012, up 97.7 per cent from 2011 and the most growth seen anywhere in the manufacturing sector.
Samsung Electronics Viet Nam (SEV) was responsible for 98 per cent of those exports, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).The South Korean mobile phone maker plans to aggressively expand its production in Viet Nam with a total investment of $2.2 billion for the period until 2020.
Samsung has overtaken Nokia as the top mobile phone brand for 2012 and opened up a decisive lead over Apple in the smartphone market.
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