Vietnam should stress on high quality export market

Exports of Vietnam are expected to boom in 2010; however, export items should be shifted more quickly on the value chain in order to have stronger growth. That is the valuation of Ambassador, Head of the European Union Delegation to Vietnam Sean Doyle at the Launching Ceremony of Green Book 2010 on July 7 in Hanoi.

Doyle affirmed that the European Union (EU) would continue to be the second biggest export market for Vietnam goods, after the US. Although general export turnover of Vietnam to the EU market has fallen by 14 percent however that number is not to a big concern; since exports of other countries have also experienced similar reduction due to the effects of global economic recession. In 2009, Vietnam footwear exports to the EU reached $1.9 billion and fishery reached $1.1 billion.

The reduction of six percent in footwear exports of Vietnam to the EU is not due to the impact of anti-dumping duty. In the EU, the anti-dumping duty is currently applied to a very small number of Vietnam footwear, including female footwear. For bicycles, although official answer on anti-dumping removal has not been announced, no complaints had been made against Vietnamese bicycles. The conclusion is expected to be published in mid July.

Doyle is optimistic that the most difficult time for Vietnam exports is over. Vietnam export value to the EU could not be lower since the EU has implemented solutions to recover and manage the economy more efficiently.
In addition, Vietnam had good form of economic management and incentives in 2009 and the coming years. According to statistics of Vietnam, growth of exports in 2010 would be up by 10 percent. This is a relatively high number and a good example on the growth of Vietnam exports. Vietnamese products have been present in big markets like the EU, and North America, etc.

Changes are needed

Doyle said the Vietnam exports could grow even more dramatically if Vietnam joins the high quality production chain. For example, Vietnam should not export raw coffee beans but they should be dried and packaged before export. This would help exports have higher profits and create more jobs for workers.

This solution should also be applied to other fishery products and handicrafts, etc. Getting faster move on the value chain is the only chance for small and medium enterprises of Vietnam to grow strongly.

According to Doyle, the large import on raw materials of Vietnam is also not to be worried. When exports grow fast, the need for larger imports of raw materials and equipments would obviously arise in order to meet the demand for production of export products.

In addition, the import also derived from the internal needs of Vietnam. Recently, Vietnam has invested heavily on constructions of power plants, airports and seaports, which require a huge investment capital. In the long term, this will bring many benefits to Vietnam.

Tags: Vietnam exports, Vietnam trade

Posted by VBN on Jul 9 2010. Filed under Import-Export. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry