Custom’s import-export statistics - 400 billion USD - Vietnam's new milestone.

Milestones of "hundred billion dollars" import-export turnover.

Illustrated by T.Binh.

In order to establish impressive achievements in import and export activities, it is necessary to mention the important role of the Government, the National Steering Committee for ASEAN Single Window, commercial and customs of Vietnam in the determination to reform, simplify administrative procedures, and reduce the customs clearance time of goods.

With the efforts and determination of the customs authorities, according to a recent assessment by the World Bank (WB), in 2017 time clearance of exports of our country reduced by 3 hours, and imported goods down 6 hours. The cost of customs clearance for a shipment has dropped by 19 USD and is estimated to have saved 170 million USD for the enterprises in the first 10 months of this year.

In the past, the Customs Department has implemented a series of programs, plans for reform, development and modernization, such as; automatic customs clearance system VNACCS/VCIS, electronic tax payment, implementation of National Single Window and specialized inspection sites, and recently, the official operation of automatic customs management system at seaports-VASSCM in Hai Phong port area.

The statistics of the General Department of Customs are not just rough numbers. In the fact, they it has brought yield some important and sometimes interesting information revolves around a about prominent landmarks in the process of the country’s economic integration.

Shorten the cycle

Reviewing the statistics of specialized units (such as the General Statistics Office or the Ministry of Industry and Trade), we do not see the announcement when Vietnam reached the 100 billion USD mark on import-export turnover.

However, based on the statistics of the General Department of Customs they do show that this milestone was made in early December 2007. Specifically, the end of November 2007, the total import-export turnover of the country reached 99.731 billion USD. And by the end of 2007, it was 111.2 billion USD.

From the above data, it can be seen that, in the early days of December 2007, the country set a record when the first import-export turnover touched 100 billion USD.

Over the next four years, on December 25th, 2011, Vietnam set up a second milestone when the value of export and import turnover achieved 200 billion USD. Nearly 5 years later (end of November 2016), Vietnam reached the mark of 300 billion USD. And just over a year later, in mid-December 2017, import-export turnover of our country increased by 100 billion USD to set a new milestone.

According to data analysis, it is estimated that importing time from 100 billion USD to 200 billion USD took just over four years, but from 200 billion USD to 300 billion USD it took nearly 5 years, and from 300 billion USD to 400 billion USD shortened to just over a year. Thus, within 10 years (2007-2017), the value of import and export turnover in the whole country increased 4 times, and the growth rate is changing rapidly as mentioned above.

Imprint of the "motivate force" Samsung

Although there are many different opinions about Vietnam’s incentives for Samsung, with its contribution to the economy of our country, but a fact can not be denied, without the phones and computers with the Samsung brand name "Made in Vietnam", our country’s economic situation would be worse. It’s taken a long time to get the record of the impressive number of hundred billion USD in import-export activities. In fact, the Samsung mark is clearly visible in reaching this achievement.

First, look at the structure of key groups. With the appearance and leading role of Samsung, the phone and computer group quickly established the position of the industry with the largest import-export turnover, overcoming the traditional textile industry. For example, in 2016, the total import and export value of telephones and computers reached 91.725 billion USD (of which 53.272 billion USD) accounted for 26.1% of the country's total turnover. In the first 11 months of 2017, these figures have been increased to 113.549 billion USD (of which 65.067 billion USD is exported), accounting for 29.5% of the total turnover.

The second consideration is, thanks to high-tech products from Samsung, "Made in Vietnam" phones and tablets, goods made in Vietnam have become popular and become important export commodities. Most countries and territories have trade relations with Vietnam. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market, for example, in the last few years thanks to the telephone, the rich kingdom in the Middle East has become Vietnam's "billion dollar" export market. Phone sales always contribute to 80% of the value of turnover.

For localities, the appearance of Samsung has redrawn distribution "maps" of the structure of the country’s key exports and imports. Most notably in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen. Prior to the appearance of large investors from Korea, these two localities near the "unknown" on the map import and export Vietnam. However, Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen have been firmly in the lead and have surpassed a number of localities such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Binh Duong and Dong Nai to occupy the second and third position in terms of export only after HCMC.

Nearly 30 groups export billions USD

Samsung's motivating force and role in our country’s import-export activities has been proved as mentioned above, but foreign trade of our country depends not only on this investor.

Vietnam's export and import activities have seen fast and strong moves, thanks to significant improvements in many sectors such as agriculture, textiles and footwear. Particularly, export turnover is no longer dependent on a few minerals, especially crude oil, coal etc., as in the first years of integration. Up to now, besides 2 groups of phones and computers, our country has built nearly 30 export commodities with a value of 1 billion USD/year. Particularly, the increasing presence and significant contribution of agricultural commodity groups, such as seafood, cashew nuts, vegetables, rice, furniture, etc.

In terms of market, our country has trade relations with more than 200 countries and territories, including the world's leading economies such as the United States, China, Japan, Korea, and countries belonging to the European Union (EU). In which, many partners achieved two-way trade turnover of tens of billions USD per year.

It can be said, whether in terms of commodity or market structure, import-export activities of our country are also creating stability by developing synchronously, both in breadth and depth.