Bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Brazil is estimated to reach 2 billion USD this year, riding the growing trend since 2000 that saw two way trade value surpassing 1 billion USD in 2011.

According to the Vietnam General Department of Customs, two-way trade reached 422 million USD in the first quarter of this year, including 207.7 million USD worth of Vietnamese exports to Brazil, up 41.9 percent, and 214.3 million USD for imports from the country, down only 1.4 percent from last year’s same period.

Vietnam’s key exports to Brazil include footwear, seafood, machinery, equipment, and computers, as well as electronic parts, telephones, garments, bags, hats, umbrellas, steel products and transport vehicles. From Brazil, it imports steel, cotton, automobile parts, tobacco, wood products, apparels and footwear materials.

As the world’s sixth biggest economy with a population of 195 million, the Brazilian market offers great potential for penetration by Vietnamese products, says the Vietnam Trade Office (VTO) in the South American country.

The market share of imported consumer goods rose from 19.5 percent in 2011 to 21.6 percent in 2012.

The country’s total volume of products surpasses 1 trillion USD, with imported goods accounting for 225 billion USD. Its imports have increased by a remarkable 15 percent annually for the past ten years.

Vietnam’s exports to Brazil still remains very modest at 0.32 percent of the country’s global imports and many supermarkets and wholesalers in remote areas have no access to Vietnamese goods.

Last year, Vietnam earned 817.2 million USD from exports to Brazil, up 26.3 percent from 2011, and imported 822.6 million USD worth of commodities from the country, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent.-VNA