Exports increase, domestic production begins to recover

The 19.7% growth in export turnover is a positive result of import-export activities in the first months of 2013. The turnover in the first three months of the year is estimated to reach 23.5% of the yearly plan and is much higher than the export growth target approved by the National Assembly of 10%.

Exports of processed industrial products still play an important role in contributing to the overall export turnover growth. The export turnover of this group increased the highest by 31.8%, while the agricultural and aquatic products group decreased slightly by 0.3% and the mineral fuel group increased slightly by only 1.2%.

Accordingly, the proportion of commodity groups has changed in a positive direction, gradually reducing the proportion of fuel and mineral groups, gradually increasing the processed industrial goods group. Specifically, compared to the proportion of the first quarter of 2012, the proportion of the processed industrial goods group in the first quarter of 2013 increased from 63.3% to 69.7%; the fuel and mineral group decreased from 10.45% to 8.84%; the agricultural and forestry products group decreased from 19% to 15.8%.

Notably, export activities achieved high growth rates thanks to the large contribution of foreign-invested enterprises. Excluding crude oil, this group's export increased by 27.1%. This shows that foreign-invested enterprises with potential, experience and available markets continue to play an important role in export growth.
Exports of domestic enterprises increased by 10.1% compared to the same period in 2012, while the same period in 2012 compared to the same period in 2011 did not increase. This is a good sign showing the efforts of domestic enterprises in boosting exports. The state needs to pay more attention to creating more favorable conditions for domestic enterprises to restore production and promote exports.

However, the decrease in export volume of some agricultural products shows the limitation in increasing output and dependence on weather conditions (such as coffee); the export price of some agricultural products decreased and increased slightly compared to the same period, causing the export turnover of this group to decrease (rubber, coffee, tea...). Therefore, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, solutions such as temporary purchase, support for businesses in terms of capital, bank maturity, and market search need to be promoted.

On the other hand, the export of processed industrial products grew the most, playing an important role in export growth; in which there was a large contribution from foreign-invested industries such as: computers and components, phones of all kinds and components, wood products, textiles, footwear... showing that Vietnam's export growth depends heavily on these groups of products.

Exports of domestic enterprises have begun to recover and have a tendency to increase gradually. Accordingly, imports of domestic enterprises have increased more than the same period last year (exports increased by 10.1% and imports increased by 7.9%, in the same period in 2012 exports increased by 5.1% and imports decreased by 10.7%), this could be a positive signal that production is beginning to recover.

On the other hand, with the import trend gradually increasing since February, the trade surplus is at 482 million USD, in the current context, the import increase trend can be considered a factor in production recovery, however, to meet the requirement of gradually reducing the trade deficit, measures to limit the trade deficit still need to be maintained.

According to the assessment from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the target of export turnover for the whole year is to increase by 10%, which means it must reach 126.1 billion USD. The first three months of the year reached more than 29.68 billion USD, equal to 23.5% of the plan (average 1 month reached 9.89 billion USD). The next nine months must reach over 96.42 billion USD, the average 1 month must reach more than 10.7 billion USD, according to the export structure of the quarters of previous years and the trend of the world economy recovering slowly, this is a number that requires a lot of effort to achieve.

According to Hanoimoi - LY