The sector earned 18.8 billion USD from exports in the first five months of 2026, up 5.6% year-on-year despite weak global demand. To achieve its full-year export target of 48-49 billion USD, monthly export turnover will need to average 4.31-4.46 billion USD over the remaining seven months.
According to Truong Xuan Trung, Trade Counsellor of Vietnam in the UAE, the Middle East serves not only as a consumption market but also as a key global transhipment hub, meaning instability in the region creates ripple effects across intercontinental transport networks. Shipping route adjustments and airspace restrictions have lengthened transit times, increased costs and disrupted delivery schedules, with some Vietnamese shipments forced to reroute or seek alternative markets.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said Vietnam should increase the proportion of maritime and inland waterway transport to at least 50% in order to reduce logistics costs and road accidents in the coming time.
Indonesia aims to further reduce logistics costs to 8% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2045, from 14.29% in 2022, Coordinating Minister on Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said on February 22.
More efforts are needed to lower logistics costs, which are still kept at a high level, to increase the economy’s competitiveness, according to insiders.
July marks the end of the lychee season in China but the main harvest in Vietnam. Therefore, domestic firms are advised to optimise this opportunity to boost exports to the neighbouring country.
Vietnam’s economic growth in the first quarter of 2022 was consolidated thanks to the solid performance of export-oriented manufacturing and recovering service sector, according to the Vietnam Macro Monitoring report recently released by World Bank.
Indonesia plans to build a container port in the Batam Free Trade Zone and Free Port in Tanjungpinggir, Riau Islands, that will directly face Singapore and loccate only about 15km from the island country.
Removing bottlenecks in transport infrastructure and policy mechanisms is considered an important solution to help cut logistics costs and improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese businesses and goods in the time to come.
The Import and Export Sub-Department, has received complaints from businesses and business groups about a shortage of containers that has led to an unprecedented increase in shipping tariffs, its deputy director Tran Thanh Hai has said.
Vietnam has set an annual growth target of 15-20 percent for the logistics sector, making up 8-10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Besides, logistics costs are also expected to reduce, equivalent to 16-20 percent of the GDP.
Margrethe Maersk, one of the world’s largest container ships, docked at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) in Phu My township, the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, on October 25.
Construction on three new wharves at the Long An International Port project will be completed in 2021, and another wharf will be built in that same year to increase the port's capacity.
The State should develop solutions to reduce high logistics costs in trading agricultural products to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese farm produce on the market, according to experts.
Vietnam will develop a seaport master plan for 2021-30, with an aim to enhance infrastructure connectivity, reduce logistics costs and promote marine economic development.
