Vietnam’s exports still dominated by FDI firms

Workers at a manufacturing chain inside an LG Electronics Vietnam’s production plant in Hai Phong. — VNA/VNS

Hanoi (VNA) - The turnover of foreign-invested firmscontinues to dominate Vietnamese exports despite a decline seen in the firsthalf of April, latest statistics show.

According to the General Department of Customs(GDC), as of April 15, exports by FDI firms reached nearly 10.87 billion USD,down 13 percent month-on-month.

Despite the fall, however, the sector accountedfor 65.1 percent of the total export turnover this year (January 1 to April 15,2017) at 70.05 billion USD, which marked an increase of 10.95 percent over thesame period in 2016.

FDI firms in the country now have an accumulated2017 trade surplus of 3.92 billion USD, making them significant contributors tonational export value.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s total export from the April1 to April 15 was 16.37 billion USD, a month-on-month drop of 13.9 percent.

This took total exports for this year to morethan 107.58 billion USD, an increase of nearly 16.76 billion USD or 18.5 percentover the same period in 2016.

However, the months leading to April 15 haveseen a trade deficit of 2.56 billion USD, about 4.9 percent of export value.

On the other hand, Vietnam’s imports fromJanuary 1 to April 15, 2017 reached 55.07 billion USD, up 23.1 percent over thesame period last year.

Accumulated import turnover for FDI firmsreached more than 33.06 billion USD, up 23.7 percent year on year, accountingfor 60 percent of the nation’s total imports.

The GDC report said the manufacturing sectorwill grow significantly with the opening of new FDI factories, on top of arecord FDI disbursement of 15.8 billion USD in 2016. The construction sectorshould benefit in particular from higher FDI disbursements as also continuedpublic investments in the energy and transport sectors.

The first quarter has also saw foreign firms add7.71 billion USD in newly registered and supplemental capital. They increasedtheir capital contribution and share purchases by 77.6 percent over the sameperiod in 2016, with 2.9 billion USD for 493 newly registered projects and 3.9billion USD for adding capital to 223 existing projects.

On the domestic front, export value for certaingoods showed strong declines: steel was down 62.8 percent; computer, electronicparts and accessories, down 27.8 percent; textiles, down 20.4 percent; woodproducts, down 23.8 percent.

Only a few goods showed improvement in exportvalue. Rice was up 6.5 percent and mobile devices and accessories went up threepercent.-VNA

VNA