Vietnam targets over 100 billion USD in export revenue this year

(VOVworld) - Vietnam estimates it will earn 24.5 billion USD from its exports in the first quarter of this year, up nearly 24% against last year. The country has set a target of more than 100 billion USD in export revenue, the highest rate so far. This is a challenging figure currently considering the many difficulties Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters face.

By the end of the first quarter, garment and textiles were the country’s major foreign currency earners with export turnover being 3.2 billion USd, up 15.4% despite a decline in the global market. The European market is a good example with a drop of up to 30%. Dang Phuong Dung, Vice President and Secretary General of the Vietnam Textiles and Apparel Association, says the difficulty might improve a bit in the second and third quarters. Many apparel companies report that the number of contracts for the next few months have increased in both scale and value. Ms. Phuong Dung says ‘Vietnam targets reaching 18 to 18.5 billion dollars in export revenue. Although the first quarter faced a lot of difficulties, the second quarter has sent out more positive signals. Vietnamese exporters have also signed more orders, particularly to the US. Free Trade Agreements with Japan, and the Republic of Korea have also helped and new markets including Cuba are experiencing a stable growth’.

Economists say in the current context, Vietnam’s export growth of nearly 24% is positive. But Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Studies, says that the low growth and demand and, decline in export price are big outer difficulties that can negatively impact on Vietnam’s exports. Meanwhile, Thanh notes that domestic companies still find it hard to access loans at low interest rates ‘Export growth is still relatively good at more than 20% in the first quarter in terms of value. What with the global economic downturn and the Vietnamese Government’s support measures, domestic economists hope that the Vietnamese economy will rebound in the first quarter or soon after. I believe that our target of an export growth of 10% and earnings of over 100 billion dollars is feasible’.

This year, Vietnam should earn more than 108 billion USD from its exports, a record high so far. But to achieve this, it will require a great deal of effort from ministries, sectors, provinces, and the business community itself. Business assistance is seen as a priority as statistics issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade has shown that Vietnamese exports dropped to 9 billion USD in the reviewed period. Notably, the foreign-invested sectors posted more than 15 billion dollars, up by 43%. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Thanh Bien says ‘We should first focus on helping 100% locally invested companies to deal with their problems. This assistance will not only be to issue certificates of origin, but also to set a long-term investment plan for the production of goods destined for the free trade areas Vietnam has access to. We should also support enterprises, so that we can increase export revenue, as set by the Government’s resolution’. 

VOV