Plastics exports forecast to rise 6 percent in 2017 hinh anh 1Illustrative image (Source: internet)
HCM City (VNA) – The Vietnam Plastic Association (VPA) has predicted that plastic exports will grow 6 percent in 2017, with major market being Japan and the US.

According to VPA President Ho Duc Lam, Japan, with a demand of 8 billion USD worth of plastic products each year, remains a promising market for Vietnam’s plastic. However, the market has high requirements for quality, which poses a challenge to the majority of Vietnamese firms, he added.

Meanwhile, the US market has continued applying the anti-dumping duty on plastic bags, causing difficulties for the export of the product to the market. But the country still imports other products, such as canvas, home plastic and plastics used for packaging, along with plastic films.

The EU market has a high demand for plastic products, he said, adding that it has not levied the anti-dumping tax on Vietnamese products.

Lam also noted difficulties facing local producers, including the large amount of imported input materials, which has reduced the sector’s competitiveness and made it difficult to take advantages of tariff preferences.

Changes in material prices and currency exchange rate also impacted the sector significantly, he said.

According to the VPA, in 2016, the plastic sector earned 2.54 billion USD from exports, a slight rise compared to 2.4 billion USD in 2015, including 2.1 billion USD from exports of products and 345 million USD from material exports.

In the year, Japan, the US and the EU were the largest markets of Vietnamese plastic. In the Japanese and EU markets, Vietnamese products made a slight growth, due to a fierce competition there and the fluctuating currency exchange rate. Meanwhile, a high growth of 7.8 percent was achieved in the US market. -VNA
VNA