The value of Vietnam exports outpaced the GDP growth rate by threefoldin the first six months of the year, up 15 percent over last year’s sameperiod to 71 billion USD.
According to radio The Voice ofVietnam (VOV), while these statistics bode well for booming economicprospects in the short-term, leading economists caution more marketdiversification in exports is needed to pave the way for sustainableeconomic growth in the long-term.
More specifically they said amore diversification of high added value products is a prerequisite tolong-term sustainability for the nation’s economy, replacing the currentoveremphasis on low value exports.
Agriculture commodities havecomprised over 30 percent of the nation’s total export turnover and thisyear is no exception. In the first half of the year, agriculturalexports reached nearly 15 billion USD, up nearly 13 percent over thesame period last year.
However, since May, as a consequence ofdevelopments in the East Sea, farm produce has showed signs offaltering, particularly in exports to the Chinese market. Vietnam’sagriculture sector is highly dependent on Chinese exports, with rice andrubber combined exports accounting for 40 percent of total agricultureexports.
The dependence of Vietnamese agriculture is furthercompounded considering as the Chinese market consumes 80-90 percent ofVietnamese watermelon, dragon fruit and lychee exports, leadingeconomists say. Therefore they argued it was urgent for the sector toexpand into new markets to reduce dependence on any particular market.
Pham Quoc Thai, a Vietnam National Vegetable, Fruit andAgricultural Product Corporation (Vegetexco) representative, said thathis company was tackling the issue head on by specifically targetingexpanding into the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US markets with highvalue pineapples and frozen lychee products.
The flip side ofbeing overly dependent on exports to any specific market is to be overlydependent on any particular market for imports, economists pointed out.Currently, the Vietnamese garment and textile sector is overlydependent on raw material imports from China, they said.
As aprime example, they pointed to the Vietnam garment and textile sector – aspearhead export industry – that fetched over 10 billion USD in exportrevenue in the first six months of the year. Vietnamese imports of goodsand raw materials from China were 20.4 billion USD during the periodwhich they said was exorbitantly high and should be reduced.
GeneralDirector of Dong Binh Garment and Textile Joint Stock Company Tran VanKhanh said that for his company the key issue was to localise materialsand focus on increasing the added value of products. Khang added thathis company moved to a FOB (Free on Board) model aimed at utilising moredomestic materials and purchasing cloth from Thailand and Singapore inlieu of China.
Economists said producing all raw materials for the garment and textile sector within the borders of the c ountry is needed.
Inrecent times, the garment and textile sector has attracted manyprojects in the textile dyeing or support industries. Economic expert LeDang Doanh said that local businesses need to produce high qualitygoods, reduce outsourcing activities for foreign businesses, developtrademarks and seek new outlets to improve localise rate and the addedvalue for Vietnamese products.
According to the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam's 13 products have earned a turnoverfrom over 1 billion USD in the reviewed period. Two commodities(telephones and garment and textile) surpassed the benchmark of 20billion USD. Another positive sign is that although local businessesmade up a low proportion in total export turnover, these businesses’growth rate has increased by 11.6 percent compared to previous periods.
Inthe context of the East Sea tensions, Minister of Industry and Trade VuHuy Hoang affirmed that the Government would timely provide policies tosupport businesses to diversify their export and import markets.
Inthe current context, the Government aims to expand new export andimport markets to avoid dependence on one partner and strengthen thedevelopment of material zones to produce raw materials for manufacturingwithin the country.
Additionally, the Government is committed tooffering favourable policies for agricultural production, increaseadded value and export capability in a stable and sustainable manner,Hoang emphasised.
The MoIT in turn said that Vietnam is speedingup free trade agreements (FTAs) and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)agreement negotiations. These trade agreements will open up overseasmarkets, and provide a tremendous boost for advantageous goods such asgarment and textile, footwear, and farm produce to penetrate inpotential markets to ensure exports sustainably.-VNA
According to radio The Voice ofVietnam (VOV), while these statistics bode well for booming economicprospects in the short-term, leading economists caution more marketdiversification in exports is needed to pave the way for sustainableeconomic growth in the long-term.
More specifically they said amore diversification of high added value products is a prerequisite tolong-term sustainability for the nation’s economy, replacing the currentoveremphasis on low value exports.
Agriculture commodities havecomprised over 30 percent of the nation’s total export turnover and thisyear is no exception. In the first half of the year, agriculturalexports reached nearly 15 billion USD, up nearly 13 percent over thesame period last year.
However, since May, as a consequence ofdevelopments in the East Sea, farm produce has showed signs offaltering, particularly in exports to the Chinese market. Vietnam’sagriculture sector is highly dependent on Chinese exports, with rice andrubber combined exports accounting for 40 percent of total agricultureexports.
The dependence of Vietnamese agriculture is furthercompounded considering as the Chinese market consumes 80-90 percent ofVietnamese watermelon, dragon fruit and lychee exports, leadingeconomists say. Therefore they argued it was urgent for the sector toexpand into new markets to reduce dependence on any particular market.
Pham Quoc Thai, a Vietnam National Vegetable, Fruit andAgricultural Product Corporation (Vegetexco) representative, said thathis company was tackling the issue head on by specifically targetingexpanding into the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US markets with highvalue pineapples and frozen lychee products.
The flip side ofbeing overly dependent on exports to any specific market is to be overlydependent on any particular market for imports, economists pointed out.Currently, the Vietnamese garment and textile sector is overlydependent on raw material imports from China, they said.
As aprime example, they pointed to the Vietnam garment and textile sector – aspearhead export industry – that fetched over 10 billion USD in exportrevenue in the first six months of the year. Vietnamese imports of goodsand raw materials from China were 20.4 billion USD during the periodwhich they said was exorbitantly high and should be reduced.
GeneralDirector of Dong Binh Garment and Textile Joint Stock Company Tran VanKhanh said that for his company the key issue was to localise materialsand focus on increasing the added value of products. Khang added thathis company moved to a FOB (Free on Board) model aimed at utilising moredomestic materials and purchasing cloth from Thailand and Singapore inlieu of China.
Economists said producing all raw materials for the garment and textile sector within the borders of the c ountry is needed.
Inrecent times, the garment and textile sector has attracted manyprojects in the textile dyeing or support industries. Economic expert LeDang Doanh said that local businesses need to produce high qualitygoods, reduce outsourcing activities for foreign businesses, developtrademarks and seek new outlets to improve localise rate and the addedvalue for Vietnamese products.
According to the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam's 13 products have earned a turnoverfrom over 1 billion USD in the reviewed period. Two commodities(telephones and garment and textile) surpassed the benchmark of 20billion USD. Another positive sign is that although local businessesmade up a low proportion in total export turnover, these businesses’growth rate has increased by 11.6 percent compared to previous periods.
Inthe context of the East Sea tensions, Minister of Industry and Trade VuHuy Hoang affirmed that the Government would timely provide policies tosupport businesses to diversify their export and import markets.
Inthe current context, the Government aims to expand new export andimport markets to avoid dependence on one partner and strengthen thedevelopment of material zones to produce raw materials for manufacturingwithin the country.
Additionally, the Government is committed tooffering favourable policies for agricultural production, increaseadded value and export capability in a stable and sustainable manner,Hoang emphasised.
The MoIT in turn said that Vietnam is speedingup free trade agreements (FTAs) and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)agreement negotiations. These trade agreements will open up overseasmarkets, and provide a tremendous boost for advantageous goods such asgarment and textile, footwear, and farm produce to penetrate inpotential markets to ensure exports sustainably.-VNA
