Trade surplus with US passes $10 billion

Viet Nam had a trade surplus of more than US$10 billion with the US for the first 11 months of 2010, according to figures from the US Department of Commerce (DoC).

Two-way trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $16.947 billion.

Viet Nam’s exports to the US in the period reached $13.652 billion, an increase of 11 per cent over the 2009 figure, while the US attained an export turnover of $3.295 billion to Viet Nam, up by 1 per cent over the previous year.

This is a big jump in trade volume compared with the two-way trade turnover of less than $1 billion per year before 2000.

The two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 1995, when Viet Nams’s export turnover reached $199 million and the US $252 million.

Textile and garments, wooden furniture, footwear, agricultural products, and seafood and aqua-products remain the main Vietnamese exports to the US.

In Viet Nam’s strategy to promote economic and commercial relations, the US remains one of the top importers of Vietnamese goods, due to the US’s huge demand for imported goods, especially for goods that Viet Nam has great production potential.

However, Viet Nam’s exports have encountered challenges as the US has not granted the Generalised Systems of Preferences (GSP) to Viet Nam, while a number of Viet Nam’s major products such as tra and basa fish and shrimp have been facing anti-dumping taxes in the US.

Two-way trade between the two countries for all 12 months of 2010 might exceed $18 billion, said the chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Vu Tien Loc, during a meeting held in December in HCM City by the VCCI and the American Chamber of Commerce to celebrate 15 years of Viet Nam-US diplomatic relations and 10 years of the Viet Nam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam US Trade