Rapid export expansion backed by high global prices will help Vietnam’s export turnover triple the initial target for this year.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam will likely earn $68-69 billion from exports in 2010, up 19-21 per cent against last year.
At the start of 2010, Vietnam targeted 7 per cent export turnover growth on the back of an unstable world economy and slow local economic recovery.
MoIT statistics showed that Vietnam gained high and stable export growth between $5.8-6.8 billion each month from June with the highest growth recorded in processing and manufacturing industries.
In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam reaped $51.5 billion in export revenue, up 23.2 per cent on-year. The manufacturing sector, which contributed nearly 35 per cent to Vietnam’s export earnings, posted the highest growth of about 30 per cent during January-September.
Fast-growing exports in the nine months included Chemical, steel, transportation vehicles, electrical wire and cable, garment and textiles.
Vietnam exported 871,000 tonnes of steel products worth $716 million in the first nine months, up 2.7-2.8 times in volume and value against last year’s corresponding period.
Vietnam’s major steel markets are Cambodia, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and China, of which Cambodia is the biggest consumer utilising nearly 20 per cent of Vietnamese-made steel.
Pham Van Chinh, director general of the MoIT’s Export-Import Department, said Vietnamese steel exporters were trying to expand markets in Brazil, Canada, Japan, Germany and the United States.
Garment and textiles and footwear exports earned $8 billion and $3.6 billion respectively, up 20.6 and 23 per cent on-year.
Vinatex said it would not be difficult for the garment sector, Vietnam’s biggest foreign currency earner, to achieve the $10.5 billion targeted for the year’s exports since local firms had already got many overseas shipment orders this year.
Many have even signed shipment deals until early months of next year, according to Vinatex’s board chairman Vu Duc Giang.
