Exports to EU Rise 40 per cent Annually

Vietnam’s export turnover to the European Union (EU) witnesses an annual growth of 40 per cent on average, according to the Ministry of Trade (MoT). 

 

The country’s exports to the foreign market accounts for 18 per cent of its total export value in the 1995-2003 period, the ministry said.

 

This year, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the EU is expected to hit US$9.2 billion, of which Vietnam’s exports to the EU will contribute US$6.05 billion compared to the figures of US$8.1 billion and US$5.4 billion, respectively, last year.

 

Vietnamese enterprises have fully tapped their comparative advantages to focus on EU importers’ key commodities such as cashew nut processing, vegetable, rubber, coffee, foodstuff, footwear and aquatic products which are forecast to increase 10-15 per cent in volume and up 31.7 per cent on-year in value.

 

However, categories of Vietnamese exports to the EU are not diversified and their product quality remains unequal, the MoT said.

 

The EU, a huge market with nearly 490 million consumers, is a great potential trade partner for Vietnam. Vietnam and the EU established diplomatic relations in 1990 and the relations have been developing in many fields.  

 

EU investors arrived in Vietnam soon after Vietnam’s Law on Foreign Investment was promulgated in 1987. By the end of November 2005, the EU had initiated 740 projects with total registered capital of US$9.94 billion in Vietnam, becoming one of the leading foreign investors to the country.

 

The EU has pledged US$161 million for Vietnam in the period of 2002-2006, becoming Vietnam’s biggest donor for development cooperation on healthcare, education, culture, environmental protection, administrative reform and poverty reduction.

 

The EU currently comprises of 25 members and achieves GDP of over US$11,000 billion, ranking 2nd worldwide, after the US and accounting for 27.8 per cent of global GDP, making up one-third of the total trade value and half of foreign direct investment of the globe. The EU’s economic growth is forecast at 2.5 per cent in 2006, the highest level over the past 30 years.