Exports start 2011 off with a bang

According to latest General Statistics Office (GSO) figures, Vietnam’s key export items saw impressive growth compared to the corresponding period in 2010.

Textiles and garments raked in $2.79 billion in total export value in the first quarter, up 27.9 per cent on-year.

Not including crude oil exports, footwear came second with $1.29 billion, hiking 29.7 per cent on-year. It was closely followed by seafood with $1.14 billion, jumping 30 per cent on-year.

Rubber products reported most impressive growth in 2011’s first quarter with $774 million in total export value, leaping 134 per cent compared to the same period in 2010. Coffee also saw exceptional growth with $1.04 billion in the export value, soaring 115 per cent on-year.

Of export items hiking over 20 per cent in first quarter’s export value there were chemicals, machinery-equipment and spare parts, electrical wires and cables and cashews.

“First quarter’s export figures are upbeat amid uncertainties in the world market and high input material and fuel costs,” said deputy minister of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Nguyen Thanh Bien.

The enactment of export supportive policies in recent months helped businesses push up exports, according to MoIT executives. For example, businesses found it easier to source US dollars after the enactment of Resolution 11/NQ-CP dated February 24, 2011 concerning measures to curb inflation and stabilise the macro-economy.

However, a sharp rise in export values of most items mainly infused by higher world market export prices, except for coffee which saw 46.4 per cent hike in the export volume, following by rubber with 37.9 per cent and rice with 17 per cent up in the export volume.

To help businesses expand exports, the government urged local banks to prioritise lending production and export while restricting loans to non-productive areas, Bien said.

He said the central bank had instructed commercial banks to allocate capital to firms active in rice export to help them stockpile a certain amount of rice which would later be sold in the world market at favourable price terms.

Local firms also benefited from an improved access to capital sources for export promotion under the national trade promotion programme, according to MoIT’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency chairman Do Thang Hai.

“The MoIT founded an Appraisal Council to evaluate trade promotion programmes by businesses and is now more self-reliant in capital disbursement,” Hai said.