Electronic export climbs

Electronic products and computers made a fast leap in export in the first half of 2010, becoming one of best export performers of Vietnam.

According to the Industrial and Commercial Information Centre under the Ministry of Industry and Trade exported computers and electronics products brought in more than US$272.2 million for Vietnam in May, a rise of 9 percent from a month earlier. In June, the export growth was more optimistic as the value climbed to over US$290 million, grossing US$$ 1.5 billion in the six-month period.

New locomotive

Remarkably, export of key items like printers and parts stayed at stably high while new products like computers and electronics appliances grew up more strongly, promising to become a new exporting drive.

Experts from the Industrial and Commercial Information Centre analysed that this trend could be seen clearly in the export list in the past months.

In the first six months of 2010, major importers of Vietnamese goods include East Asian nations like China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. China took the lead in importing Vietnamese electronics products and computers with over US$51.2 million in May, up 128.2 percent year on year, US$172 million in the first five months, up more than 130 percent from the same period of 2009. In June 2010, according to official statistics, China was expected to spend more than US$50 million on Vietnamese computers, electronic products and parts.

Strikingly, in the export list, exports to China in the last half of June were added RAM memories (US$8.2 million) and laptops (over US$700,000) in addition to traditional printers and electronic parts.

The East Asia nations mainly imported parts and incomplete products from Vietnam. However, in the export list, Vietnam exported several complete products to these markets in late June 2010. For instance, it shipped nearly 1,000 computer motherboards branded Foxconn to Hong Kong in June.

ASEAN markets ranked second on the export chart of Vietnam. Notably, Singapore spent over US$19 million in June but most exports to this market, except for printers, are incomplete items, thus the export value was not very high.

The United States remained the biggest importer of Vietnamese electronic products and computers. In the first five months, the world’s largest economy imported more than US$201.5 million worth of Vietnamese electronic products, computers and parts, up 25 percent year on year. In the latter half of June 2010, finished products only accounted for just over 20 percent, a bit higher than the previous month but still 5 percent lower than the same period of last year.

The Netherlands outstood Vietnamese importers of electronics products and computers. In May, the European nation expended over US$18.4 million on Vietnamese computers, electronics products and components, up 45 percent year on year. Vietnam was forecast to obtain US$93 million from export of electronic products and computers to this market in the first six months of 2010, a rise of more than 50 percent in comparison with the same period of last year.

Export of semi-finished products to this market is surging, with an expected growth of over 500 percent in the first half of this year. Nonetheless, this market is a minor part in the Vietnamese export picture.

Export advantages

Looking deeper into export structure, the report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that finished products are mainly printers and parts while other electronics and computer items are incomplete.

Printers account for some 42 percent of total export of this commodity category in the second half of June 2010, lower than the previous month, and the United States and China were two main importers, with estimated US$15.4 million and more than US$13 million in the month, respectively. Next in the printer export chart, Singapore and the Netherlands continued to be the main importers of made-in-Vietnam printers.

Parts and semi-finished products took up less than 42 percent of printers in June and main importers included Japan, Hong Kong, China, the United States and South Korea. Last year, Singapore and Malaysia were big importers.

According to experts, in the last six months of 2010, exchange rate is expected to benefit Vietnamese exporters, including exporters of electronics, computers and parts. The economic recovery in big markets will result to greater demand for computers and electronics products, more export orders and higher prices. These factors support the uptrend of this category in the future.

Tags: Vietnam Electronic exports