Agricultures, News & Event
Import and export in 2022 can set a new record
At the end of the first quarter, both export and import turnover achieved double-digit growth. Therefore, with the current growth rate, many experts predict that the country’s import and export turnover in 2022 may set a new record and will reach 700 billion USD.
According to Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in the first quarter of 2022, the total import-export turnover was recorded at 176 billion USD, up 14.4% over the same period in 2021. This is a very high growth rate; exports alone grew 12.9%.
In particular, groups of agricultural products recorded quite high export growth of about 18-19%; in which, there are special products such as coffee, rice and seafood, the growth rate is even higher from 38% to nearly 50%. These are generally very positive signs for import and export activities.
Commenting on export growth in the coming time, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai said that the biggest opportunity comes from Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Over the past time, Vietnam has continuously had large-scale FTAs with a deep level of commitment such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Vietnam-EU FTA (EVFTA), the Vietnam-EU FTA, and the EU-Vietnam FTA. South – United Kingdom (UKVFTA) and most recently the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)… These are all FTAs with very large-scale trading partners of Vietnam, in fact economy has had a significant effect.
Mr. Tran Thanh Hai also pointed out that, in the CPTPP, countries that have just joined FTAs with Vietnam such as Peru, Mexico, etc., the growth in exports is from 25-35%, showing very clearly the opportunity for businesses.
Meanwhile, the RCEP Agreement took effect from January 1, 2022 with deeper commitments as well as clearer facilitation and businesses also have the opportunity to boost exports to these markets. Notably, in the RCEP bloc, there are countries such as China, Korea, and Japan that provide raw materials for Vietnam. In addition, the RCEP Agreement will create rotation, helping Vietnam better connect the supply chain of both output and input.
Emphasizing the difficulties that businesses will face in the near future, according to Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, the immediate impact is still the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although in Vietnam the impact from the epidemic has lessened and there is a safe adaptation to restore production, the impact of the disease in other markets may also affect Vietnam, especially the current epidemic. began to increase in China.
With China’s current anti-epidemic policy, when there are cases, China is ready to blockade an entire city or a production center. If the areas currently supplying basic raw materials with large quantities of materials to Vietnam are affected by the blockade order, it will affect the supply of raw materials to Vietnam.
Moreover, in the matter of transportation and logistics, in the past 2 years, the impact of the epidemic has pushed up sea freight rates, so far there has been no sign of “cooling down”.
In China, when the disease spreads, it is possible that China’s ports will also be congested, which will further prolong the transit time, pushing the freight rates to remain high.
In addition, the instability of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is also worth noting. Although the trade turnover between Vietnam and Russia as well as Ukraine is not large, these two countries provide basic raw materials, agricultural products such as wheat, raw materials such as coal, fertilizer, and other raw materials. metal products… Therefore, the Russia-Ukraine conflict will affect prices in the market, leading to input prices of raw materials in general.
On the other hand, the Russia-Ukraine conflict also affects crude oil and petroleum products, pushing crude oil prices up very high because Russia is the world’s leading supplier of crude oil and gas.
This affects the supply chain in general; in which, there are countries that import fuel and crude oil from Russia, pushing up prices in these markets, increasing pressure on the world market, and at the same time increasing pressure on production activities. export from Vietnam. The impact is especially clear for industries that use input materials such as iron and steel, metals, chemicals, fertilizers…
In 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade aims to increase exports by 6-8% compared to 2021. , reaching about 363 billion USD; maintain the trade balance at the level of trade surplus. To achieve the set goal, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai affirmed: It can be seen that at present, Vietnam has the biggest advantage that it has had a challenging period, overcoming the impact of the epidemic. Vietnam also has good export growth momentum maintained over the years.
In the coming time, taking advantage of FTAs is still the biggest concern of businesses, associations, and state management agencies, which must work together to exploit and make good use of it.
In addition, to provide information to businesses, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has built a number of websites to bring information to businesses, of which the wrong website is of the Trade Promotion Department, the Center for Industry Information and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. trade, a number of specialized websites of Vietnamese commercial agencies in foreign countries.
Besides, at the end of March, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the British Embassy to organize the launching ceremony of the Vietnam Trade Database Portal (VNTR).
VNTR portal was built by the Ministry of Industry and Trade with the support of the UK Government. This is a free online source of information, providing the latest regulations and information on trade necessary for enterprises importing and exporting into Vietnam.
The VNTR portal will help fulfill Vietnam’s commitment in ASEAN to improve transparency of trade policies and regulations, facilitate regional trade, and facilitate easy access by the business community. more information on Vietnam’s commitments related to trade in goods, services and investment within the framework of ASEAN cooperation.
The VNTR portal is officially operated at https://vntr.moit.gov.vn and is part of the ASEAN Trade Database (https://atr.asean.org).
“This website will contribute to bringing information related to free trade agreements as well as regimes and policies related to import and export management mechanisms to traders.” Mr. Tran Thanh Hai shared.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also regularly organizes training programs in the form of online, face-to-face and the programs are very effective when spreading to businesses in all localities, regions, regions across the country.
In particular, in the past period, information about exports to China in general and agricultural exports to China in particular has been of great interest. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has compiled a lot of documents, publications, and manuals for exporting to the Chinese market as well as to new markets such as the Middle East and Latin America.
In the near future, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will have a manual to guide businesses to switch from unofficial to official export… These are some of the efforts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in providing information for businesses to promote promotion. export.