Concerns about exports

	Exports start to recover
	Nearly 73% of automobiles imported from Thailand, India and Indonesia
	Vietnam develops logistics services for exports

Enterprises only need to change management, the productivity has increased by 10-15%. Photo: Huu Linh.

Only be a dependent link

Vietnam's exports have grown rapidly in recent years, reaching more than $ US 176 billion in 2016. However, massive exports were synonymous with low-value and non-branded goods. Why was the value low though Vietnam exported a lot? That was a question set a long time ago, but the answer had nothing new. That was the story of Vietnamese non-branded goods.

As compared by the Mr. Tran Dinh Thien, Director of Vietnam Institute of Economics in the Export Promotion Forum on April 20, 2017, “although the Vietnam’s exports increased well and a lot, I have not reassured with exports and that reassurance is in the long term vision”.

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of Import-export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, also expressed his concerns about exports, regarding the Vietnam's position in the product value chain: "Though we manufactured many products for many countries, why was our link so low?

As analyzed by him, in the product value chain with key links, but in the current time, Vietnam’s industrial production has not caught that links, it was just a dependent link. For example, although Samsung was a product of modern industry and Vietnam was proud of it a bit, we were not satisfied because it was not a key link. This was an unsustainable factor to increase the Vietnam’s added value. “We can learn experienced countries to catch up those links and gradually hold positions in some links” said by Mr. Hai.

It can be seen that the Vietnam’s exports in the recent time increased rapidly in quantity, but the value has not increased as expected, excluding the export products without brand.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, Director of Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy proved that we produced lots of coffee, but only sell at price of $ US 2 / kg, while exporting them to foreign countries, they sell them at price of $ US 200 / kg. Meaning that we only got 1% of that value while we spent a lot of effort.

"The export picture in the coming time is a problem that the Government and Ministries are concerned about. We take care of export turnover, but we also have to consider the sustainability, it is like that the traffic participants want to go fast but they also must ensure safety " stated by Mr. Hai.

Value increased due to function

Mr. Vo Tri Thanh Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) noted that the majority of Vietnam's exports in the value chain were dominated by consumers, not by producers, so, that Vietnam wanted to participate in the high value-added chain in the technology stage was much more difficult than the production or service stage ... because it required a lot of money and wisdom.

Therefore, Mr. Thanh agreed with Nam's opinion on that not all enterprises are involved in all stages of the value chain. Each enterprise just needs to do 1 to 2 stages but it must be sure what it can do and what it can change, meaning that increasing the value-added due to function. In term of this aspect, Mr. Thanh said: " Enterprises should do what they are doing but need to increase the productivity. Our research shows that enterprises only need to change management, the productivity has increased by 10-15%”.

Relating to measures to increase the value of export goods, Mr. Nam stated that the stage of sales (consumption and sales of goods) were necessary and must be paid a special attention. We manufactured many products but we did not know the market. If we still maintained previous measures that we already had products and then we looked for markets, we would always fail and sell products at cheap prices. “If production is large, the sales must be reorganized, we cannot feel satisfied with small sales with small and separated sales organization system, causing big losses for farmers and consumers,” Mr. Nam said.

Vietnam’s exports still dominated by FDI firms The turnover of foreign invested firms continues to dominate Vietnamese exports despite a decline seen in the ...

It is noteworthy, according to many experts, we should pay more attention and invest more in policy and resource to the agricultural exports. Because Vietnam has the strengths of traditional agriculture, sufficient human resources, abundant agricultural resources and diverse and favorable climates for agricultural development. Nearly 100% of agricultural value are manufactured by our country’s labor. The development of modern agriculture with high technology opens a great prospect for agricultural export. So that we need to urgently boost and renovate the promotion of agricultural exports.