Vietnam is planning to boost exports to China in a bid to reduce
its large import surplus, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT).
According to Dao Tran Nhan, Director of the
Asia-Pacific Department under the MIT, China has become one of
Vietnam’s largest trading partners and made-in-Vietnam goods are
increasingly popular on this market. Many of Vietnam’s key exports to
China , such as crude oil and farm produce, reached more than 1
billion USD in turnover. Especially, Vietnamese fresh and dried fruits,
started penetrating China ’s Northern East provinces.
However, Nhan said, the trade balance is in favour of China, as
Vietnam’s export turnover to the neighbouring country accounts for only
0.48 percent of China’s total import value.
Vietnam, in the first five months of this year, imported nearly 8
billion USD worth of goods from China while grossing over 2.38
billion USD from exports. Last year, Vietnam spent up to 16.4 billion
USD on imports from China in comparison with a total 21.3 billion
USD in the two-way trade turnover.
The export
structure is also in favour of China, as most of Vietnam’s exports are
raw materials and unprocessed farm produce, while its imports from China
are essential goods of high added value such as petroleum, fertilisers,
steel, chemicals, footwear materials, electronics components,
automobiles and pharmaceutical products.
To balance the trade between the two countries, Nhan said that the MIT
had informed China of 16 goods items Vietnam has potential to
produce in large quantities and asked China to design policies to
help its businesses to import those goods items.
In
addition, to boost the export to China, according to Nhan, Vietnamese
businesses should strengthen cooperation with Singaporean, Taiwanese
and Western European investors who are planning to move their workshops
from China to Vietnam to avoid rising production and labour costs in
China .
Also, Vietnamese businesses should
export goods items the Chinese people like and take advantages of
China’s tax reductions under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement
(ACFTA) that took effect early this year./.