The Vietnam Trade Office in Australia and the Ministry of Industry and Trade are organising a series of activities to help Vietnamese exporters sell more goods to this market, which is considered to have great potential for its openness and low tariff.

Under the free trade agreement between ASEAN, to which Vietnam is a member, and Australia and New Zealand, Australia eliminated import tariff on around 96 percent of lines of imports from ASEAN in 2010 and the remaining by 2020.

In early August, the Vietnam Trade Office arranged for a delegation of Australian fishery companies to visit and inspect aquaculture farms in Vietnam. Later, it helped businesses from the southernmost province of Ca Mau participate in an international food expo in Australia.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam’s exports to Australia were valued at 3 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 24.5 percent. Crude oil took the lead with a value of 1.4 billion USD in January-August, up 53.7 percent, followed by mobile phones and parts with 243.1 million USD and seafood with 144.3 million USD.

Popular products such as iron and steel, electric wire, pepper, and garment-textile all registered high growth.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the Australian market has a great demand for apparel, footwear, wooden furniture and fishery products that are strengths of Vietnam. However, he noted that this is a choosy market which requires strict regulations on the quality and the delivery time of products.

A dozen of Vietnamese garment-textile firms are expected to participate in an international trade fair in Australia by the year’s end.-VNA