Over the past few years, Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia border trade has seenpositive changes with continuously increasing import and exportrevenues. The Vietnam Economic News reports.
Acknowledgeable figures
According to Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Laos Tran Bao Giam,Vietnam-Laos trade revenue reached 866 million USD in 2012, twice asmuch as that in 2008. In the first 10 months of 2013, total bilateraltrade revenue reached 817.6 million USD, a year on year increase of 12.7percent, in which Vietnamese exports to Laos scored nearly 376 millionUSD, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.
Major Vietnameseexports to Laos include petroleum (82 million USD), steel and iron (88.9million USD), means of transport and spare parts (33.7 million USD),electric wire and electric cable (18.1 million USD), whereas Vietnameseimports from Laos reached 441.7 million USD, up 15.8 percentyear-on-year with major imports including wooden products (272.5 millionUSD) and metals (40.8 million USD). It is estimated that Vietnam-Laostrade revenue could reach 1 billion USD in 2013.
Asfor Cambodia, according to Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Cambodia VuThinh Cuong, total Vietnam-Cambodia trade revenue in 2013 will reach 3.5billion USD, up 0.5 billion USD compared with 2012. Of that figure,Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia score 3 billion USD.
It is forecast that in 2014, trade revenue between the two sides willreach about 4 billion USD. Major Vietnamese exports to Cambodia includeconsumers’ goods, processed food, milk, instant noodles, coffee, fishsauce, vegetables, flowers and fruits, fertilisers, agriculturalmaterials and pesticides. Meanwhile, Vietnamese key imports fromCambodia are mainly raw agricultural products such as cashew nuts,cassavas, green beans, soybeans and rubber latex.
The effective competition of Vietnamese goods in the two markets wasattributed to good quality, diverse designs and reasonable prices.Director of the Trade Departments of Kratie and Stung Treng provinces(Cambodia) said Vietnamese goods occupy 50 - 60 percent of the marketshare in these areas.
In Laos, according to theDirector of the Trade and Industry Department of Champasak Province,Vietnam goods account for about 30 percent of the provincial marketshare. Especially, Vietnam’s steel and iron products and steel arefavored thanks to high quality and lower prices compared with the samekinds from Thailand. Not only people from Champasak province but alsofrom others come to the province to seek for Vietnamese commodities.
Solutions to boost trade
Vietnam-Laos trade relation over recent years has seen strong growthbut remained low compared to China-Laos and Vietnam-Laos trade in termsof both growth rate and value.
Statistics from theGeneral Department of Customs show that in 2010, Vietnamese exports toLaos reached 198 million USD, accounting for over 10 percent of Laos'import revenue. In 2011 and 2012, the figures increased by 11.4 percentand 16.4 percent respectively. Also in 2010 and 2011, Laos’ importrevenues from Thailand reached nearly 1.4 billion USD and 1.45 billionUSD respectively while import figures from China reached 145 million USDand 392 million USD.
One of the reasons behind theweak increase of Vietnam’s exports to Laos was the decliningcompetitiveness of Vietnamese goods compared to those of Thailand andChina. The two competitors have also developed distribution systemswhile Vietnam’s similar system in Laos was almost zero, plus small andscattered trading methods, mainly by sub-border gates. In addition,import and export procedures have not been clear, traffic infrastructurehave not been upgraded to meet trade demand.
InCambodia, despite Vietnam’s increased export revenue in 2013, the growthhas been slower than before due to Cambodia's stricter controls onimport taxes. The retail price of many Vietnamese consumer goods inCambodia has increased from 10-15 percent, some items from 20-25percent, with lower competitiveness compared to other countries’ goods.
Open potentials and opportunities
The potentials and opportunities to develop Vietnam-Laos andVietnam-Cambodia trade are very large. In the coming time, to boosttrade activities with a target to lift Vietnam-Laos trade revenue toover 2 billion USD, and Vietnam-Cambodia trade revenue to 5 billion USDby 2015, many difficulties and obstacles need to be removed.
First of all, Vietnam needs to promote official border tradeactivities between Vietnam and Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia, build bordermarkets, shopping and goods distribution centres and commercialwarehouses in border economic zones to prepare good supplies to thesetwo markets.
The Vietnamese enterprises need to takefull advantage of the preferential treatments from FTAs in the ASEANblock and of preferential import/export taxes from Vietnam, Laos andCambodia regulated in bilateral agreements. They also need to diversifyexport items, expand distribution systems and change trading modes inaccordance with business customs of the partners.
When exporting goods to these two markets, especially the consumer’sgoods, Vietnamese exporters need to give instruction on use printed inCambodian and Laotian language. According to the Director of the Tradeand Industry Department of Champasak province, many Lao consumers oftenbuy Thai goods as they have instruction in the Lao language.
To boost trade promotion activities, Vietnam should organise variouspromotion programs in different localities apart from those held inPhnom Penh and Vientiane. Vietnamese organisers should mobilize andencourage large, well-known businesses to take part in exhibition andtrade fairs in a bid to make a good impression for Vietnamesecommodities and enterprises.
In particular,favorable conditions should be created for Vietnamese transport vehiclesto transit from Cambodia (through Tay Ninh gateway) to Laos and viceversa. Thus, Vietnamese businesses could save time and transportationcosts.
The Vietnamese banks should also enableenterprises that undertake investment in Cambodia and Laos to accesspreferential credit loans so that they can carry out their investmentproject efficiently.-VNA
Acknowledgeable figures
According to Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Laos Tran Bao Giam,Vietnam-Laos trade revenue reached 866 million USD in 2012, twice asmuch as that in 2008. In the first 10 months of 2013, total bilateraltrade revenue reached 817.6 million USD, a year on year increase of 12.7percent, in which Vietnamese exports to Laos scored nearly 376 millionUSD, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.
Major Vietnameseexports to Laos include petroleum (82 million USD), steel and iron (88.9million USD), means of transport and spare parts (33.7 million USD),electric wire and electric cable (18.1 million USD), whereas Vietnameseimports from Laos reached 441.7 million USD, up 15.8 percentyear-on-year with major imports including wooden products (272.5 millionUSD) and metals (40.8 million USD). It is estimated that Vietnam-Laostrade revenue could reach 1 billion USD in 2013.
Asfor Cambodia, according to Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Cambodia VuThinh Cuong, total Vietnam-Cambodia trade revenue in 2013 will reach 3.5billion USD, up 0.5 billion USD compared with 2012. Of that figure,Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia score 3 billion USD.
It is forecast that in 2014, trade revenue between the two sides willreach about 4 billion USD. Major Vietnamese exports to Cambodia includeconsumers’ goods, processed food, milk, instant noodles, coffee, fishsauce, vegetables, flowers and fruits, fertilisers, agriculturalmaterials and pesticides. Meanwhile, Vietnamese key imports fromCambodia are mainly raw agricultural products such as cashew nuts,cassavas, green beans, soybeans and rubber latex.
The effective competition of Vietnamese goods in the two markets wasattributed to good quality, diverse designs and reasonable prices.Director of the Trade Departments of Kratie and Stung Treng provinces(Cambodia) said Vietnamese goods occupy 50 - 60 percent of the marketshare in these areas.
In Laos, according to theDirector of the Trade and Industry Department of Champasak Province,Vietnam goods account for about 30 percent of the provincial marketshare. Especially, Vietnam’s steel and iron products and steel arefavored thanks to high quality and lower prices compared with the samekinds from Thailand. Not only people from Champasak province but alsofrom others come to the province to seek for Vietnamese commodities.
Solutions to boost trade
Vietnam-Laos trade relation over recent years has seen strong growthbut remained low compared to China-Laos and Vietnam-Laos trade in termsof both growth rate and value.
Statistics from theGeneral Department of Customs show that in 2010, Vietnamese exports toLaos reached 198 million USD, accounting for over 10 percent of Laos'import revenue. In 2011 and 2012, the figures increased by 11.4 percentand 16.4 percent respectively. Also in 2010 and 2011, Laos’ importrevenues from Thailand reached nearly 1.4 billion USD and 1.45 billionUSD respectively while import figures from China reached 145 million USDand 392 million USD.
One of the reasons behind theweak increase of Vietnam’s exports to Laos was the decliningcompetitiveness of Vietnamese goods compared to those of Thailand andChina. The two competitors have also developed distribution systemswhile Vietnam’s similar system in Laos was almost zero, plus small andscattered trading methods, mainly by sub-border gates. In addition,import and export procedures have not been clear, traffic infrastructurehave not been upgraded to meet trade demand.
InCambodia, despite Vietnam’s increased export revenue in 2013, the growthhas been slower than before due to Cambodia's stricter controls onimport taxes. The retail price of many Vietnamese consumer goods inCambodia has increased from 10-15 percent, some items from 20-25percent, with lower competitiveness compared to other countries’ goods.
Open potentials and opportunities
The potentials and opportunities to develop Vietnam-Laos andVietnam-Cambodia trade are very large. In the coming time, to boosttrade activities with a target to lift Vietnam-Laos trade revenue toover 2 billion USD, and Vietnam-Cambodia trade revenue to 5 billion USDby 2015, many difficulties and obstacles need to be removed.
First of all, Vietnam needs to promote official border tradeactivities between Vietnam and Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia, build bordermarkets, shopping and goods distribution centres and commercialwarehouses in border economic zones to prepare good supplies to thesetwo markets.
The Vietnamese enterprises need to takefull advantage of the preferential treatments from FTAs in the ASEANblock and of preferential import/export taxes from Vietnam, Laos andCambodia regulated in bilateral agreements. They also need to diversifyexport items, expand distribution systems and change trading modes inaccordance with business customs of the partners.
When exporting goods to these two markets, especially the consumer’sgoods, Vietnamese exporters need to give instruction on use printed inCambodian and Laotian language. According to the Director of the Tradeand Industry Department of Champasak province, many Lao consumers oftenbuy Thai goods as they have instruction in the Lao language.
To boost trade promotion activities, Vietnam should organise variouspromotion programs in different localities apart from those held inPhnom Penh and Vientiane. Vietnamese organisers should mobilize andencourage large, well-known businesses to take part in exhibition andtrade fairs in a bid to make a good impression for Vietnamesecommodities and enterprises.
In particular,favorable conditions should be created for Vietnamese transport vehiclesto transit from Cambodia (through Tay Ninh gateway) to Laos and viceversa. Thus, Vietnamese businesses could save time and transportationcosts.
The Vietnamese banks should also enableenterprises that undertake investment in Cambodia and Laos to accesspreferential credit loans so that they can carry out their investmentproject efficiently.-VNA
