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By Han Qiao Xinhua
HANOI: Vietnam, depending on the
U.S. and European Union (EU) markets for more than one third of its
exports, is beginning to tap more potential markets in the wake of
the U.S. financial crisis and possible economic downturn in the
United States and some European countries.
The export turnover of Vietnam is
expected to reach 65 billion U.S. dollars this year, a leap of 33.9
percent over 2007 and the biggest increase in the past decade,
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told a National Assembly
session this week.
The impressive figure, on one
hand, was thanks to rising international prices, especially in the
first seven months of this year, of Vietnam’s major export items,
like crude oil, coal, rice and coffee, said experts here. On the
other hand, it was an achievement of the Vietnamese government’s
huge efforts to boost exports.
But experts also warned that some
Vietnamese export items, like coffee and garments, were depending
too much on the U.S. and EU market, and it is likely to be hurt
badly if no changes on export strategy is made.
Figures from the General
Statistics Office of Vietnam showed that in the first nine months
this year, the United States remained the biggest export market for
Vietnam. Export value to the U.S. market stood at 8.5 billion U.S.
dollars, accounting for 17.4 percent of the total. It was followed
by export to the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) with
17.2 percent, EU 16 percent, Australia 7.2 percent, and China 6.7
percent.
Exports to the United States and
EU, however, have already showed signs of slower growth compared
with other markets during this period. Exports to Asean, Australia
and China surged by 42 percent, 67 percent and 43 percent
respectively year-on-year in the first three quarters, while exports
to the U.S. and EU went up only 17 percent and 21 percent.
Some Vietnamese garment companies
have begun to complain that their partners in the United States have
cut orders in recent contract negotiations. The Vietnam Coffee and
Cocoa Association reported that key importers like Germany, Italy
and the United States bought less coffee in the last few months.
In the new global context,
Vietnam needs to reach other new potential markets such as Russia,
Africa and Middle East while maintaining and more deeply penetrating
traditional ones, said Nguyen Thanh Bien, deputy minister of
industry and trade of Vietnam at a recent conference on export.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung said this week that more trade promotion activities should
be conducted at government, trade union and enterprise levels to
expand presence of Vietnamese goods in foreign markets.
Vietnam’s trade mission abroad
should support and cooperate with Vietnamese companies to boost
export, said Dung.
Some of the trade promotion
agencies in Vietnam have already started to act. Next Monday, a
delegation of about 60 Nigerian businesspeople will arrive in
Vietnam for a one-week visit to study business opportunities. They
will cooperate with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to
hold trade and investment seminars in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Potential markets for Vietnamese
exporting companies have been widely discussed in local media
recently. In Friday’s Vietnam Economic Times, there is a full-page
story on Vietnam’s advantage to tap the market in United Arab
Emirates.
In Vietnamese Prime Minister’s
report to the fourth session of the 12th National Assembly that
opened this week, he made a modest target of 18 percent export
growth in 2009. Experts believe this figure is achievable if right
strategy and effective measures are implemented.
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