Vietnam records a strong export growth in first quarter

With total export value estimated at 43.73 billion USD, Vietnam’s exports in the first three months of this year went beyond expectations, up12.8 percent from the same time in 2016, according to the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Exports of agro-forestry-aquatic products see remarkable achievements.

According to the latest report of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the export turnover of the domestic sector increased by 12 percent while that of foreign-invested grew by 13 percent.

Exports of agro-forestry-aquatic products saw remarkable achievements when they went up by 12.2 percent and made up 12.5 percent of the total export revenue, higher than last year’s figure of 11 percent. 

The export value of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products reached 7.6 billion USD in the first three months of 2017, a year-on-year rise of 7.6 percent.

In March alone, the earnings from these products were estimated at 2.9 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The increase was buoyed by a year-on-year surge of 13 percent in the export value of wood and wood products in the first quarter to 1.7 billion USD, with 649 million USD earned in March. Aquatic product exports in the period grew by 3.6 percent from the same period of 2016, to 1.5 billion USD, including 537 million USD in March.

In March alone, Vietnam exported 542,000 tonnes of rice for 251 million USD.

The value of agro-forestry-aquatic production enjoyed a year-on-year increase of 1.98 percent in the first quarter, of which the agricultural sector up 1.41 percent, forestry 5.04 percent, and fishery 3.59 percent.

The manufacturing sector still maintained its export growth trend, reaching 12.5 percent. Meanwhile, shipments of minerals and fuel saw recovery thanks to an increase in prices of oil and other goods.

However, Vietnam splashed out 45.63 billion USD on imports in the period, which led to a trade deficit of 2 billion USD, or 4.4 percent of the total export revenue.

This was spurred by a plunge of 828 million USD in export revenue of Samsung company, which dragged down growth of manufacturing product exports.

Besides, the increased imports of materials for domestic production like computers, components and leather also contributed to the trade deficit.

Furthermore, the disbursement of 3.6 billion USD by foreign-invested projects to purchase equipment and machines like Samsung Display project in Bac Ninh and fiber project in Binh Duong also affected the country’s import revenue.

According to Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, local enterprises need focus on diversifying export products to avoid dependence on key exports like mobile phones as their decreased turnover will have critical impacts on the total export revenue.