Navigating the headwinds, exports resume growth pace

Gemalink port at the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port cluster in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province (Photo: VNA)

Managing to navigate headwinds from global economic fluctuations, Vietnam has enjoyed positive gains in exports, with the upward trend forecast to continue in the time to come.

Data shows that Vietnam’s export revenue has improved through the first quarters of this year. Specifically, a year on year drop of 11.9% was recorded in the first quarter, which was reduced to 11.8% in the second and to only 1.2% in the third quarter.

From these positive signs, experts are upbeat about the recovery of the world demand and a high growth in Vietnam’s exports in Q4.

Agricultural products such as rice and fruit have recorded strong growth. Meanwhile, Vietnam has shown strong performance in persifying export markets and optimising major markets such as the US, the EU, Africa, and Western Asia.

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At the same time, Vietnam has efficiently exploited border trade to increase exports to neighbouring countries, especially China.

Recovery signs have also seen in garment and textiles. Recently, partners from Europe, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia have shown increasing interest in Vietnam. Exports to the US and EU markets have also showed signs of improvement.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

According to the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, inventories in markets where Vietnam has strong advantages have decreased. For example, in the US, inventory dropped from 20% in the first six months of the year to 10% in August, which is forecast to reach 0% by the end of 2023. This is an opportunity to export more goods to the US, Vietnam's largest export market.

The department underlined that thanks to their efforts to seek new markets and optimise a new generation free trade agreements (FTA), Vietnamese exporters have effectively navigated the global headwinds.

However, experts advised domestic firms to promote production while seeking material supply sources serving production to avoid dependence on particular markets.

They also stressed the need for stronger connectivity among businesses to enhance their capacity to respond to unpredictable developments in the world economy, along with the renovation of production technologies and the building of trademarks to increase competitiveness and attract more investors.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that the ministry will enhance their forecast capacity. It will speed negotiations and signing of new bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms with promising countries, while optimising the role of the Vietnamese trade office system abroad in providing international market information and policies, he said.

The minister pledged that along with giving alerts on trade barriers and trade defense cases, the ministry will assist businesses in effectively taking advantage of FTAs, and untangle knots in capital access and administrative procedure, thus helping them recover and develop production to increase exports.

Dien said that the MoIT will support exporters to enter emerging, niche, and potential markets, and persifying export markets through official channels./.