Vietnam’s economic situation in August and 8 months of 2007

1. Agriculture, forestry and fishery

Agriculture:

As of mid August 2007, the country had 2,014,700 hectares of summer-autumn rice sown, equaling 89.7% of last year’s same period, of which 1619.6 thousand ha were in the Mekong river delta, equaling 87.8%. 1,418,300 hectares of winter rice were sown, equaling 95.9%, of which 1149.8 thousand ha, equaling 96.7% were in the North and 268.5 thousand ha in the South, equaling 92.7%.

Together with rice crops, there were 906,000 hectares of maize, equaling 102.4% against same period last year; 140,000 hectares of sweet potato, equaling 90.1%; 375,600 hectares of cassava, 99.5%; 218,000 hectares of peanut, equaling 98.3%; 161,600 hectares of Soya, equaling 94% and 602,500 hectares of beans and vegetables, equaling 95.5%.

At this period, provinces in the Mekong river delta were in the harvest of summer-autumn rice crop. The work completed in 1,138,000 hectares, with an average estimated yield increasing from 100 to 300 Kg per ha.

b. Forestry

Much rain in many places during the month created a favorable condition to the progress of forestation. Up to present, some localities have completed their 2007 forestation plans.  Generally, for 8 months, the area of concentrated forestation achieved 15.6 thousand ha, increasing by 2.7% over same period of 2006; the area of separated forestation gained 12.9 million trees, rising by 2.8%. Wood cut production was 359.1 thousand m³, rising by 0.2%.

c. Fishery

Production of fishery in August 2007 was estimated at 379.7 thousand tons, increasing by 8.9 % as compared with last year’ same period, of which farmed products were 212.6 thousand tons, increasing by 17.3%, caught products: 167.1 thousand tons, decreasing by 0.1%. Generally, for 8 months, fishing production gained over 2,608.7 thousand tons, rising by 9.3% against same period last year, of which farmed products were 1,193.7 thousand tons, increasing by 18.9%; caught products: 1,415 thousand tons, rising by 2.4%.

2. Industry

The industrial production value in 8 months was increasing by 17.1%  against same period last year, of which the state sector rose by 10.2% (central management by 13.1% and local management by 4.1%); the none-state sector by 20.5% and the FDI sector by 18.6% (crude oil and gas fell by 3.9%, others rose by 23.2%).

According to statistics, 31 of 33 main industrial products had higher growth rates than those in same period last year, like assembled automobiles: 40,500 products, increasing by 66.5%; machine tools: more than 1,700 products, rising by 60%; assembled motorbikes: nearly two million products, increasing by 28.1%… Besides those, some other products had lower growth rates than same period last year. Of which, it is notable that crude oil production in 8 months gained nearly 10.4 million tons only, falling by 8% against same period last year. This not only heavily affected on  the rising of export turnovers and government revenues but also on the share of the industry to the growth of GDP in 8 months and the whole 2007 year as well.

3. Trade, prices and services

a. Total retail sales of consumer goods and services for 8 months of 2007 were estimated at VND 458.6 trillion, increasing by 22.7% against same period last year. Of which the state sector decreased by 4.7%; the collective sector rose by 22.4%; the individual sector by 23.9%; the private sector by 34.4% and the FDI sector by 24.3%.

b. Consumer prices in August 2007 although still raised by 0.55% against last month, but much lower than 0.8-0.9% of previous months. This result is due to initial actions made by ministries and localities in accordance with the Prime Ministry’s Instruction No. 18/2007/CT-TTg dated 1/8/2007 on laying out solutions to curb high price rate in the market. Among commodity and service groups, food prices still rose by 0.86% and foodstuff by 0.92% against last month. Prices of medical products and health-care services increased by 0.65%; drinks and cigarettes by 0.50%; remaining groups only rose at lower rates and postage and telecommunication charges even decreased by 0.07%. If good actions and synchronized solutions continue to be applied in coming months, the raising price rate will be lower.

Generally, the consumer price indexes in 8 months increased by 6.78% against December 2006, of which foodstuff rose by 10.79%; housing and building materials by 9.20%; food by 7.05%; others by lower than 5%. If compared with August 2006, consumer prices in August 2007 rose by 8.57% and for 8 month period, the average CPI increased rate per month  was 7.37%, of which highest rate was the food group with an average rate of 14.74% per month; housing and building materials: 10.01%; foodstuff: 7.2)%; others by 3.74%-6.40% per month.

c. The value of export turnovers for 8 months of 2007 was estimated at over 31.2 billion USD, increasing by 19.3% against last year’ same period: domestic sector nearly 13.8 billion USD, 25.1% increased; foreign invested sector (excluding crude oil) over 12.3 billion USD, 31.8% increased; crude oil 5.1 billion USD, decreasing by 11.8%. Up to present, eight items have gained over one billion USD, i.e. crude oil, footgear, seafood, wood products, coffee, electronics, computer, and rice.

The value of import turnovers for 8 months was estimated at 37.6 billion USD, increasing by 29.9% over same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector gained 24.1 billion USD, rising by 31%; the FDI sector 13.5 billion USD, rising by 28%. Items having high imported values were machinery and equipment and spare parts, petroleum, steel, fabric, electronics, computer and components, plastics, textile and leather materials.

Generally, in 8 months, total trade turnovers were estimated at over US$ 68.8 billion, increasing by 24.9% against same period last year. Trade deficits in 8 months were US$ 6.4 billion, equaling 20.5% of total export values in 8 months of 2007 and much higher than the rate of US$ 2.8 billion trade deficits in 8 months of 2006. However, the deficits mainly stand for the importation of machinery and equipment and materials needed for domestic production, of which many items have high imported values, like airplanes, locomotives, tankers…

d. International visitors to Viet Nam in August 2007 were estimated at 356 thousand arrivals, increasing by 23.5% over last year’ same period. Generally, for 8 months, international visitors to Viet Nam were 2.8 million arrivals, rising by 16.9% against same period last year, of which 1.7 million arrivals were for tourist, rising by 27.6%; 423.5 thousand arrivals for business, increasing by 16%; 46.7 thousand arrivals for visiting relatives, increasing by 0.5%.

4. Investment

As estimated, capital construction investment under the concentrated State budget in 8 months in 2007 was 59.19 trillion VND, accounting for 62% of the year plan. Central investment gained 21.27 trillion VND, accounting for 60.1%; Local investment: 37.92 trillion VND, equaling 63.2% of the year-plan.

The achievement of investment capital from the state budget in 8 months was below the schedule resulted from (1) unscheduled progress of the site clearing work; (2) price fluctuation, and (3) limitations in capabilities of some domestic investors, chiefly poor financial abilities and experiences of some local project management boards.

Foreign direct investment in last months gained great successes. From 1 January to 22 August 2007, there have been 814 granted license projects with a total capital registered 7.1 billion USD. Average registered capital per project was US$ 8.7 million. Besides, there have been 1.22 billion USD added for 247 projects that had been licensed in previous years, taking total FDI amounts to US$ 8.32 billion.

Number of newly licensed FDI projects in 8 months concentrated mainly on industrial zones and buildings, with 533 projects and 3.76 billion USD accounting for 65.5% in number of projects, and 52.9% in total capital registered; service sector: 241 projects and 3.22 billion USD, accounting for 29.6% and 45.3%; agriculture, forestry and fishery sector: 40 projects and 130.2 million USD, accounting for 4.9% and 1.8% respectively.

5. Transport

Passenger carriage for 8 months of 2007 achieved at 1,002,600 persons and 44.1 billion passengers-kilometers, increasing by 8.4% in passengers and 8.9% in passengers-kilometers against same period last year.

Volume of cargos carried in 8 months achieved at 244.1 million tons and 60.9 billion tons-kilometers, increasing by 7.7% in tons and 7% in tons-kilometers against same period last year. Besides those achievements, some problems need to be solved.

Firstly, although since 16/8 prices of petroleum have decreased in accordance with the Prime Minister’s Instruction on curbing market prices, freight rates have not been adjusted.

Secondly, traffic accidents are still increasing. In 7 months, there happened 8.9 thousand traffic accidents, killing 8,000 persons and injuring 6,900 others, increasing 2.2% in number of accidents, 8% in the death and 3.1% in the injured as compared with last year’ same period . As estimated, on average, each day has 42 cases of traffic accidents, killing 38 persons and injuring 32 others.

Tags: Vietnam economic 2007, Vietnam economic statistics, Vietnam's economy situation