Vietnamese enterprises view Japan and South Korea as two traditional and potential export markets, but their share of exports to these markets remains relatively low.
Businesses should be made the centre of innovations and a development focus of the industry and trade sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a conference in Hanoi on February 3.
Total import and export turnover in the first eight months of the year reached US$497 billion, of which export turnover hit $250 billion, up 9.1 percent over the same period last year. However, many enterprises are concerned that technical barriers put up by import markets, combined with a sharp decrease in purchasing power, have had a significant impact on export activities.
The activities of many enterprises show that, although Vietnam has already been a member of RCEP and applied preferential policies as prescribed by other member countries, in fact, the export of enterprises still faces many difficulties. From 2020 to now, pangasius products exported to this market have seen more than half of the number of containers have to be recalled due to Covid-19 infection.
Vietnam is currently facing 208 trade remedy lawsuits, and this figure is expected to increase sharply in the coming time, causing the market share of Vietnamese goods to be at risk of shrinking in many export markets.
Despite the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the export turnover of Vietnam still achieved positive results of US$27 billion in September, down 0.8 percent compared to the previous month and 0.6 percent year-on-year. As soon as Ho Chi Minh City gradually reopens, many enterprises accelerate export activities.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), it is expected that there will be about 1.1 million tons of agricultural products, mainly fruits, in the harvest season this month. Meanwhile, farmers and enterprises are facing many difficulties in the market and export.
In the first four months of this year, export turnover to the US market had continuously seen sharp increases, maintaining the growth of over 20 percent over the same period. This is not beyond the expectation of enterprises. Besides the advantages that Vietnamese enterprises have got in their hands, the commercial counselor of the Vietnam Trade Office in the US also warned that this market is containing many great risks.
To limit the depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution, and the amount of generated waste, many countries around the world have introduced several trade barriers in order to realize a circular economy. Of which, many countries are currently the main export markets of Vietnam. This has forced Vietnamese enterprises to change to adapt and maintain export market share.
Up to 45.6 percent out of 6,500 enterprises participated in a survey said that the trend of production and business in the fourth quarter would be better. The export market will see booming purchasing power, which has been held back for a long time.
The Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City on June 25 said that it will support city-based enterprises to diversify export markets to increase the export turnover.
The freshly-signed EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will help the Vietnamese steel sector expand export markets in Europe, industry insiders said.
Free trade agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam has signed and is going to sign have helped local firms diversity their export markets, according to Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association Vu Duc Giang.