At the ceremony to announce the Vietnam Import-Export Report 2016 (Photo: VNA) The report also presents the figures for each specific group of commodities and each market, along with the situation of negotiations on and implementation of free trade agreements with foreign partners.
Major issues related to the MoIT’s foreign trade management, from mechanisms and policies, trade promotion programmes, measures to promote exports and remove obstacle for the sector, and efforts for trade facilitation and trade defence, were included in the document.
The report noted that total export revenue in 2016 reached 176.6 billion USD, a rise of 9 percent year on year.
MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh noted that Vietnam still maintained the growth trend in export despite falling prices and demand in the global market, showing the country’s effective efforts in opening its markets as well as endeavours of the business community.
It is noteworthy that the ratio of processed products in export increased to nearly 80 percent, reflecting a transform of the sector towards less export of raw products and more processed ones, including products with high value, he asserted.
Khanh also noted that exports to major markets such as the EU and the US continued to increase by over 10 percent during last year.
Meanwhile, Tran Thanh Hai, Vice Director of the MoIT’s Export and Import Administration, assessed that amidst the changing world economy, Vietnam’s export growth of 9 percent is a positive result compared to the previous year as well as to other countries in the region.
He pointed out that many regional countries suffered falls in export revenue, including China with 7.7 percent, India with 1.3 percent and Malaysia 4.9 percent, while Thailand saw a slight increase of 0.5 percent.
He noted that the growth of export significantly contributed to improving the payment balance as well as GDP growth, while creating more jobs and selling more products for farmers.
It also reflected the recovery of domestic production, added Hai.
According to him, the export expansion last year also helped improve trade balance, with a trade surplus of about 2.52 billion USD, contributing to increasing foreign currency reserve, stabilising prices as well as the macro economy.
Import of materials, fuel, machinery and equipment serving domestic production accounted for 88 percent of total import revenue, he said, holding that this shows a positive sign, laying the prerequisite for the development of import-export as well as the economy in the years ahead.-VNA
VNA
