Rice is packaged for export at a factory in Thot Not district, Can Tho city (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam gained a trade surplus of 1.59billion USD in the first half of this year, according to the latest statisticsfrom the General Department of Customs.
Duringthe six months of the year, Vietnam’s total export value reached 122.53 billionUSD, a year on year increase of 7.2 percent.
The growth in export value in the first six months was mainly due todevelopment of exports in the processing and manufacturing sector that had anexport value of 102.2 billion USD, up 9.1 percent over the same period of 2018.
The good performance in the second half of June was behind the trade surplus,according to the general department.
The export value in the period from June 16-30 reached 11.23 billion USD, up10.4 percent compared to the first 15 days of June. The goods with stronggrowth in export value included telephones and components, computers,electronic products and components, textile, steel, machinery, equipment, toolsand spare parts, the Cong thuong (Industry and Trade) newspaper reported.
However, the total export value at 122.53 billion USD in the first six monthswas lower than the target at 123.5 billion USD, according to the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT).
Thus, to achieve the target of 263 billion USD in total export value this year,the nation needs to gain an average of 23.4 billion USD in monthly exportvalue in the second half of the year.
This is a very difficult task because the global economy that is declining atpresent will not be a favourable environment for Vietnam to accelerate exportsin the remaining months of 2019. The last time that Vietnam gained 23 billion USDin export value a month was August 2018.
The ministry expects by year end, many industries of Vietnam will continue toreplace Chinese goods exported to the US market due to the US-China trade warthat has not shown signs of cooling down.
Exports of many commodities such as textiles, wood and wood products willaccelerate in the second half of the year due to high demand for those goodsduring the year-end holidays. This is a good opportunity for Vietnam tocontinue promoting its exports.
At present, Vietnam has signed 12 free trade agreements (FTAs), including the Vietnam-EuropeanUnion Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which is expected to help Vietnam expandexport markets for local products in the future.
The ministry also said local enterprises should pay attention to origin ofgoods while the State agencies should focus on controlling export goods on thisissue. That would help local export products take full advantage of tariffsfrom FTAs.
With efforts in expanding markets and implementing trade promotion programmesfrom the Government, ministries and business community, the ministry expectsthe nation could achieve the target in total export value for this year. – VNS/VNA
VNA
