Vietnam identifies key exports to major markets

Vietnam is encouraging firms to focus on 14 exports to China, and farm produces and processed products to other big markets, including the European Union (EU) and the United States.

Producers and exporters in Vietnam, which has targeted to reap 6 billion U.S. dollars from exports to China in 2010, should center on boosting export of food, foodstuffs, footwear, plastic wares, electric and electronics goods, and wood-based products to the neighbor country, according to the Trade Information Center under the Vietnamese Trade Ministry on Friday.

Vietnam should export more high-quality rice to China since it has high demand for the commodity, the center said. China also has great demands for tea, coffee, rubber, cashew nuts, pepper, cassava, and cooking oil, but Vietnamese exporters have yet to meet the demand.

Now, Vietnam annually exports some 7 million dollars worth of tea, below 15 million dollars worth of coffee, and 85 million dollars worth of cashew nuts to China whose demands for tea, coffee and the nuts stand at 50 million dollars, 100 million dollars, and 1.6 billion dollars respectively, the center said.

Vietnam reaped over 770 million dollars from exporting rubber to China in 2006. The earnings can be five times higher in the coming years, the center quoted a Vietnamese commercial counselor in the neighbor country as saying. Chinese people consume up to 1, 350 tons of pepper each year, while Vietnam supplies them below 300 tons of the spices, the counselor said.

Besides Vietnamese materials and unprocessed items, China has growing demands for processed and industrial products, including electric cables, footwear, woodwork, plastic products, electrical and electronics components and appliances. In 2006, Vietnam exported nearly 400 million dollars worth of footwear, over 82 million dollars worth of wood-based products, and 6.5 million dollars worth of plastic wares to China, said the center.

In addition to China, Vietnam is striving to accelerate exports to the United States and the EU. Vietnam is estimated to export goods worth 10 billion dollars to the United States this year, up from some 8 billion dollars last year, the center said, noting that Vietnamese firms are intensifying exportation of products with high export growth rates such as textiles, garments, footwear, woodwork, and seafood to the U.S. market, while focusing on improving their products' quality, building trademarks and strengthening trade promotion.

Vietnam is estimated to earn 8.3 billion dollars from exporting goods to the EU this year, up from 6.8 billion dollars last year, said the Europe Department under the Vietnam's Trade Ministry. Local exports to the block which will post high growth in the coming years including seafood, woodwork, garments, textiles, rubber products, engineering goods, electrical home appliances, information technology items and toys.

In 2007, Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU is likely to surge 49 percent to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, coffee up 30 percent to 621.4 million dollars, woodwork up 6 percent to 509 million dollars, electronics goods up 40 percent to 385.2 million dollars, rubber up 50 percent to 233.2 million dollars, plastic products up 59 percent to 164.3 million dollars, and handicrafts up 6 percent to 192 million dollars, said the department.

The National Assembly of Vietnam, the country's top legislature, and the Vietnamese government have recently eyed export revenues of 46.5 billion dollars this year, up from 39.6 billion last year. However, the Trade Ministry said the figure should be 47.54 billion dollars, including nearly 8.89 billion dollars from exportation of farm products and 19.12 billion dollars from that of industrial items.

Source: Xinhua