Vietnam among top five Asian exporters to Canada

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Ottawa (VNA) – Vietnam remained the fifth biggest exporter to Canada in Asia, after China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China) in 2016.

It also led ASEAN in two-way turnover with Canada in the year, with 4.14 billion USD, an increase of 1.1 percent year-on-year, according to Canadian statistics.

Vietnam’s exports to Canada reached 3.7 billion USD (up 17.1 percent) while its import turnover fell to 396.5 million USD (down 23.2 percent).

As a result, Vietnam’s trade surplus with Canada grew to 3.3 billion USD in 2016, up 24.7 percent compared to the previous year.

Hoang Anh Dung, Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor to Canada said that Vietnam’s exports to Canada were satisfactory, considering that total export turnover of the 10 ASEAN countries to Canada only rose 2.8 percent and the ASEAN 6 faced negative export growth last year.

Exports from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines to Canada decreased 2.3 percent, 6.6 percent, 5.4 percent, 1.1 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

Vietnam’s commodities shipped to Canada with the highest growth were machines, electric products and electronics (up 55.5 percent), along with suitcases, handbags and sports equipment (increased 23.6 percent).

The country’s import turnover in coal, timber and wooden products from Canada soared, meanwhile, cereals and fertiliser imports saw strong declines.-VNA