Checking dragon fruits at Cat Tuong Agricultural Processing and Production Co. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT) said it will take the initiative in changing tradepolicies and collaborate with other ministries and localities to effectivelysupport domestic enterprises to increase exports.
The policy flexibility is needed to easeconcerns from businesses when escalating trade frictions between the US andChina and some other countries have been casting a shadow over global trade andinvestment.
The General Statistics Office’s data showed Vietnamrecorded the first trade deficit this year in May with value of 1.3 billion USD,resulting in a total deficit of 548 million USD for the first five months.
The return to a trade deficit was blamed onslowing growth of exports which totalled more than 100 billion USD inJanuary-May, up 6.7 percent year-on-year but much lower than the 19 percent and17.5 percent growth seen in the same periods of 2017 and 2018, respectively.
However, this was still encouraging given thatmany countries suffered declines in their exports, such as Japan, Singapore andIndonesia.
In Vietnam, the US-China trade tension has hadmixed impacts on the country’s trade activity. While Vietnam enjoyed exportgrowth of 28 percent to the US market in the first five months, its shipmentsto China declined and trade deficit with China rose 46 percent to 16 billionUSD in the reviewed period.
Experts have predicted that Vietnamese exportswould continue to be affected by the weakening of global trade, especially theprobable escalation of trade tensions between the US and China.
According to Duong Minh Dung, Director of DongNai province’s Department of Industry and Trade, the US-China trade frictionhas caused countries in the region to build tariff barriers to protect theirdomestic goods and reduce imports, thus affecting Vietnam’s exports.
The provincial Association of Exporters saidorders from now to the end of the year of large enterprises operating in theleather and shoe industry in Đồng Nai decreased 10-15 percent while those inthe garment industry dropped 7 percent.
According to the MoIT’s Planning Department,although exports often accelerate in the second half of the year, it is noteasy to achieve the export growth target of 7-8 percent for year-end set by theNational Assembly and 8-10 percent that the Government assigned the ministry,especially when global trade is slowing down.
The ministry will continue to closely monitorthe US-China trade tension to come up with specific plans and policies toproactively support exports of businesses.
The trade management authority encouragesenterprises to increase exports of which we have advantages. In the meantime,it will strictly manage the import and export of goods from border gates tolimit trade fraud through origin of goods.
It will also enhance support enterprises inexpanding new export markets and growing the market share of Vietnamese goodsin traditional markets and free trade agreement partners, especially for theproducts in the national brand programme and high-added value agriculturalproducts such as tea, coffee, organic rice and white pepper.
On the other hand, the ministry will innovateand strengthen trade promotions activities for key export products, focusing onmedium- and long-term programmes.
In addition, it will strengthen theinformation exchange mechanism at all levels, especially with traderepresentative offices in other countries, to capture market information andpromptly tackle the issues affecting Vietnam's exports.-VNS/VNA
VNA
