Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s export revenue slid 0.8 percent year on year to 22.4 billion USD in October as shipments of telephones and spare parts fell substantially, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
Vietnam’s export revenue slid 0.8 percent year on year to 22.4 billion USD in October. (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Of the total export revenue, domestic firms contributed 6.88 billion USD, decreasing 2.6 percent from the same time last year, and FDI sector 15.52 billion USD, down 4.7 percent.
The ministry attributed the fall to the fact that Samsung ended its campaign to boost shipments of Galaxy note 10, making export value of telephones and spare parts to fall 13.5 percent.
However, export revenue in ten-month period until October surged 7.4 percent to 217.05 billion USD, meeting 82.5 percent of the 2019 export target and near the growth target of 7-8 percent this year.
The processing sector was the largest contributor as it brought home 182.93 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 9.4 percent and accounting for 84.3 percent of the country’s export revenue. Notably, goods with strong growth in export value included electronics, computers and parts (28.8 billion USD, up 17.1 percent), and footwear (14.6 billion USD, up 11.2 percent).
In contrast, agriculture and seafood and fuel had their export revenue fall 6.1 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively.
(Photo: VietnamPlus) Gaining 27.4 billion USD in ten months, garment and textiles maintained its position in top 5 exports of Vietnam. According to Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) Truong Van Cam, in the context of fierce competition, attaining a 9 percent in export value growth was a great effort made by the sector.
Statistics from the MoIT showed that the US continued to be the largest importer of Vietnam during January-October as it splashed out 49.9 billion USD on Vietnamese goods, up 26.6 percent from the same time last year. It was followed by the ASEAN (21.3 billion USD), Japan (16.6 billion USD) and the Republic of Korea (16.6 billion USD).
“Local firms have promoted shipments to traditional markets and continue to expand markets by taking advantages of the valid free trade agreements. The free trade deals are deemed as positive factor to enhance shipments”, representative from the ministry said.
The MoIT expects by year end, many industries of Vietnam will continue to replace Chinese goods exported to the US market due to the US-China trade war that has not shown signs of cooling down.
Exports of many commodities such as textiles, wood and wood products will accelerate in last months of the year due to high demand for those goods during the year-end holidays. This is a good opportunity for Vietnam to continue promoting its exports.
At present, Vietnam has signed 12 free trade agreements (FTAs), including the Vietnam-European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which is expected to help the country expand export markets for local products in the future.
The ministry also said local enterprises should pay attention to origin of goods while the State agencies should focus on controlling export goods on this issue. That would help local export products take full advantage of tariffs from FTAs.
With efforts in expanding markets and implementing trade promotion programmes from the Government, ministries and business community, the ministry expects the nation could achieve the target in total export value for this year.
During the period, Vietnam imported some 210 billion USD worth of products, a year-on-year hike of 7.8 percent. The domestic sector spent 87.9 billion USD on foreign purchase, up 13 percent, while the amount blown by the foreign sector was 122.1 billion USD, up 4.4 percent.
The country’s trade surplus was estimated at 7.05 billion USD, higher than 6.83 billion USD recorded last year.
Statistics showed that 29 groups of commodities raked in over 1 billion USD, and five of them earned more than 10 billion USD, namely mobile phones and spare parts (43.5 billion USD); electronics, computers and accessories (28.8 billion USD); apparel (27.4 billion USD); footwear (14.6 billion USD); and machinery, equipment and tools (14.6 billion USD), together accounting for 59.4 percent of the country’s total exports.
At this rate, it is very likely that 2019 will be the fourth consecutive year the Vietnamese economy shifts from a deficit to a trade surplus./.
