Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Industry and Trade is intensifying trade promotion activities, focusing on new and potential markets that individual businesses have yet to gain direct access.
The positive market recovery has led to strong and uniform export growth across three categories: processed industrial goods, mineral and fuel products, and agricultural products. Notably, the rising export prices enabled the agricultural sector to earn over 25 billion USD in the past eight months.
Good recovery in US and EU markets
Representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that in the eight-month period, export turnover was estimated at 265.09 billion USD, up 15.8% year-on-year. The agricultural goods segment continued its growth trend from 2023, with export turnover reaching 25.19 billion USD, marking a 20.7% increase compared to the same period in 2023, accounting for 9.5% of the country’s total export earnings.
Meanwhile, export turnover of processed industrial goods reached nearly 225 billion USD, accounting for almost 85% of the national export value, with a growth rate of 15.8% year-on-year.
Many products recorded high growth rates in the period, including key exports like cameras, camcorders, and components up 40.4%; computers, electronic products, and components 28%; plastic products 31%; wood and wood products 21.8%; iron and steel 11.8%; machinery and equipment 22.5%; textiles and garments 7.3%; and footwear 12.7%. Additionally, export turnover of mineral and fuel products reached 2.78 billion USD, a slight increase of 0.8% compared to the same period in 2023.
Truong Van Cam, Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas), reported that textile and garment exports generated approximately 28.3 billion USD, a 6.2% increase year-on-year.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade attributed these results to the recovery of exports to most key markets, achieving double-digit growth rates.
For instance, exports to the United States are estimated at 77.9 billion USD, accounting for 29.4% of the country's total export turnover, and up 25.4% year-on-year; shipments to China were valued at 37.86 billion USD, up 2.8%; and exports to the EU market reached 34.4 billion USD, up 18.5%.
Enhancing Market Solutions
On the other hand, imports also grew positively. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country spent approximately 246.02 billion USD on imports in the eight-month period, primarily raw materials to support new orders.
Specifically, import of computers, electronic products, and components was estimated at 69.9 billion USD, a 26.9% increase year-on-year, accounting for 28% of total import value; and 31.2 billion USD was spent on machinery and equipment, up 16.7%.
Thus, the preliminary trade balance in the January-August period showed a surplus of 19.07 billion USD (compared to a surplus of 19.9 billion USD in the same period last year).
To maintain the high growth rate of export, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has implemented various solutions, focusing on export promotion activities targeting key markets, particularly maximizing benefits from FTAs such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The ministry will also expedite negotiation, signing, and approval of new FTAs, first of all with Israel and the UAE, to diversify markets and supply chains.
To widen access to export market, the ministry is prioritising trade promotion activities targeting new and potential markets that individual businesses are not capable of accessing by themselves. It will maintain regular meetings with Vietnam's trade missions abroad on trade promotion, and direct the trade missions to provide constant updates on foreign market conditions, regulations, and standards that can impact Vietnam's export-import activities along with recommendations to localities, associations, and businesses ./.
