From a country with many difficulties, the trade balance constantly tilted towards a heavy deficit, up to now, import and export are proud to be a bright spot of the economy with both export turnover and surplus at high levels.
From importing country to exporting powerhouse
Vietnam experienced the first years of renovation with great difficulties in import-export activities when having to import many goods, including rice. However, even in those difficult days, the 6th Party Congress (1986) determined that commodity export was one of the 3 fronts of the economy in the renovation period (along with food production and consumer goods). The mid-term conference (7th Term) of the Party determined that Vietnam's economic development strategy was "Persistently focusing on export as the main direction, at the same time replacing imports of some domestically produced products effectively" .
That is Vietnam's consistent strategic orientation, laying an important foundation for Vietnam's exports to have the right direction from 1986 to present.
Indeed, thanks to strong and correct policies, in the first period, from 1991 to 2010, Vietnam's annual export growth always reached a high rate, at double digits, even reaching over 15% in some years. In the period from 2011 to 2022, the growth rate of Vietnam's total export value reached an average of 12.6% per year.
If in 1991, Vietnam's total export turnover only reached 2.087 billion USD (import reached 2.338 billion USD), then by 2015, the total export turnover had reached 162.016 billion USD (import reached 165.775 billion USD), an increase of 77.63 times.
By 2022, Vietnam's export turnover had increased 2.29 times compared to 2015 and 177.9 times compared to 1991.
From those impressive results, looking at the import and export activities of the whole country, it can be seen that, in terms of import and export activities, Vietnam has had a high export growth rate for more than 3 decades, even during the Covid-19 pandemic (2019 - 2021). The export growth rate calculated for the entire period from 1992 to 2022 (31 years) reached an average of 17.96%/year. Vietnam has become the country with the highest export growth rate in the world for more than 30 years.
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| Textiles and garments have been Vietnam's main manufacturing and export industry for many years. |
In addition, from 2016 to 2022, the Vietnamese economy has had 7 consecutive years of trade surplus. In 2023, Vietnam will continue to maintain its trade surplus achievement. For a developing country (large import demand, limited competitiveness of processed products in the international market), achieving a trade surplus is a remarkable achievement, reflecting the efforts and qualitative development of the economy.
Currently, Vietnamese export goods are present in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world, including large and demanding markets such as the US, Japan and the EU.
In particular, over 30 years of promoting the "export-oriented" strategy, the structure of Vietnam's export goods has fundamentally shifted, from intensive use of raw materials and primary products to processed and manufactured products. The increase and spectacular results of Vietnam's exports over the past 30 years have not only made important contributions to GDP growth and improved foreign trade balance, but also improved the quality of economic growth, created jobs, expanded economic and cultural integration, and enhanced Vietnam's position in the international arena.
Aiming for a record number
After 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused negative growth in imports and exports, but that is an understandable result in the difficult context of the Covid-19 pandemic. After 2023, by early 2024, imports and exports may reach a new record number.
Specifically, according to the report of the General Department of Customs, the total import-export turnover of the whole country in the past 7 months reached more than 440 billion USD, an increase of 17.2%, equivalent to more than 63 billion USD/month (equivalent to an increase of 64.66 billion USD) compared to the same period in 2023. According to the annual rule that import-export tends to increase in the last months of the year, the import-export turnover for the whole year can reach 780 - 790 billion USD, and can even approach the 800 billion USD mark - a record high number ever.
Talking to reporters of the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Dr. Le Quoc Phuong - former Deputy Director of the Center for Industry and Trade Information - Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the goal is not only to achieve export turnover for 2024 but also a longer-term goal. Because, although still a poor country, the competitiveness of products and goods is still limited, but currently, Vietnam has entered the Top 20 economies with the largest trade scale. Many Vietnamese products are in the Top of exports such as: Rice, pepper, textiles... that means Vietnam can be classified as one of the export powers. Therefore, it is necessary to have a response worthy of the position of a power. That is, there can be no delay in bringing export products and goods to meet the increasingly strict standards of the market.
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| Import and export are the bright spots of the economy. |
Currently, when we have signed FTAs, tariff barriers have been reduced, but non-tariff barriers such as technical standards and food safety and hygiene have been increasing. EU market regulations such as: Anti-IUU fishing for seafood, anti-deforestation (EUDR) of the EU; food safety regulations of Japan, Korea... make goods increasingly face fierce competition in the market. This is a world trend and is forecasted to become more and more stringent, forcing businesses to respond or leave the "game".
In addition, businesses need to diversify their markets, bringing their products to niche markets with great potential such as the Middle East, Africa, South America, etc. in addition to traditional markets. This will reduce the risk of goods being dependent on one market.
| In 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade strives to increase export turnover by about 6%; maintain a trade surplus of about 15 billion USD. In particular, the Ministry will accelerate negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), deploying various forms of promotion, both direct and online, to make good use of opportunities from implemented FTAs. |
Source: https://congthuong.vn/xuat-nhap-khau-va-dau-an-dac-biet-trong-79-nam-xay-dung-dat-nuoc-342486-342486.html
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