Vietnam estimates trade surplus of around US$47 million in the first quarter of this year with export turnover up 20 per cent on-year to US$8.56 billion and imports up 1.9 per cent to US$8.513 million, according to the government’s bodies.
The high trade surplus in the period is an unexpected achievement, which is attributed to the strong jumps in exports and the slow-down of imports, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said.
Accordingly, in March alone, Vietnam earned US$3.1 billion from exports, up 29.4 per cent on-month, mainly thanks to the activities of foreign-direct-invested firms, which contributed over US$1.8 billion to the nation’s total turnover, up 27 per cent.
March is seeing significant on-month rises in exports of garments and textiles, which sky rocketed by 34.4 per cent, footwear, up 31 per cent, woodwork, up 40.4 per cent, bag-suitcase-umbrella, up 43 per cent, electric cables and wires, up 42.9 per cent, plastics, up 34.6 per cent and bicycle and parts, up 59.6 per cent.
Particularly, crude oil exports leapt by 20.5 per cent to US$1.44 million in the month.
The sound records in March helped raise the total turnover in the first three months, which is reported at US$8.56 billion or 22.7 per cent of the year’s goal, of which FDI sector instituted US$5.03 billion, up 25 per cent.
During the period, industrial products took the lead in export growth, especially garments with an export value of US$1.25 billion, soaring 31 per cent against the same months of last year.
Woodwork, plastics, handcrafts, bicycles and parts continued to see high export growths. Despite negative effects from the EC's anti-dumping lawsuit, footwear exports attained $816 million, up 23 percent. Meanwhile, woodwork only saw a 21 per cent increase with export revenues of US$444 million.
However, agro-products, also the nation’s key export items, saw no big changes.
In the three-month period, more than 1.1 million tons of rice were exported, up 4.78 per cent on-year, bringing home US$307 million. Due to falling world coffee prices, Vietnam only exported 258,000 tons of coffee in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 32 per cent.
Meanwhile, thanks to the Chinese market's growing demand, as many as 162 tons of rubber were shipped, earning US$216 million, up 44 percent and 100 per cent, respectively
In 2006, Vietnam’s export development rate is forecast at 18.5 per cent to reach US$38.44 billion. The country is expected to earn an annual export growth of 17.5 per cent in the 2006-2010 period with a total value of nearly US$272 billion, according to a project mapped out by the Ministry of Trade.
During the time, the nation saw a slow-down in imports, buying US$3.2 billion, up 21.4 per cent in March and US$8.513 billion, up 1.9 per cent in the three months. Of which, FDI firms spent US$1.2 billion for imports in March and US$3.253 billion in the first quarter, up 13.5 per cent and 12.3 per cent on-year, respectively.
The deceleration in imports is believed to have resulted from Vietnam breaking its reliance on finished cars, spare-parts for cars and motorbikes, fertilizers, steel and steel ingot, cotton, material and accessories for garment and textile and footwear as well as petroleum (2.67 million tons, down 12 per cent).
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