One of the successes of the Vietnamese economy in 2020 is to maintain positive export growth despite the COVID-19 epidemic. Entering 2021, growth continued to be optimistic from the beginning of the year.
Positive signs at the beginning of the new year
According to the General Statistics Office, the export turnover of goods in January 2021 is estimated at 27.7 billion USD, up 50.5% over the same period last year.
Notably, there are 6 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 67.3% of total export turnover, including phones and accessories; electronics, computers and components; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; textiles; Footwear; wood and wood products.
Chart: 6 exported goods with billion USD (Source: GSO)
Besides, many agricultural and aquatic products also recorded an increase in export turnover compared to the same period last year such as seafood up 19.6%; rubber increased by 142.2%; cashew nuts increased 51.7%; pepper increased by 42.4% and tea by 31.2%.
Another positive signal is that in the first days of January 2021, a series of export orders for agricultural and aquatic products were exported, marking a favorable start.
Specifically, recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development cooperated with the People’s Committee of Can Tho City to announce the export of the first batch of rice in 2021. Accordingly, the shipment had a total volume of 1,600 tons of Jasmine 85 and Huong Lai fragrant rice of Nong Nong JSC. Trung An high-tech industry is exported to Singapore and Malaysia.
The rice shipment for export in early 2021 of Trung An Agricultural Joint Stock Company is about to go to the port. (Photo: VNA)
Not only rice, aquatic products and fruits have been “exported abroad” by enterprises to difficult markets.
It can be mentioned that more than 160 tons of shrimp processed by Minh Phu Hau Giang Seafood Joint Stock Company have “opened goods” for the seafood industry to export to potential markets of Vietnam, the EU, the US and Japan.
Or Ba Ria – Vung Tau Seafood Processing Import Export Joint Stock Company (Baseafood) has also exported a shipment of 8 containers of squid, tuna, octopus, and plastic shrimp, with a total value of 700,000 USD. to Canada, USA, Australia …
In addition, Nam Phong Import and Export Co., Ltd is the first unit in 2021 to export nearly 140 tons of dragon fruit, worth approximately 1.9 billion VND, to Yunnan (China). Hung Su Agricultural Co., Ltd. exported 27.5 tons of melon, worth 120 million dong.
Enterprises expect to start the production season in early 2021
With many items such as footwear, textiles, wood products, computers, electronic products, components … there will usually be two main production seasons: the beginning of the year and the end of the year. Therefore, this time is also the season of production and export, so businesses are “speeding up” to complete orders.
According to many enterprises, the export situation is gradually recovering and so far companies have received orders until the second quarter of 2021.
Sharing on the sidelines of the recent leather and footwear conference, Mr. Tran Viet Cuong, Strategic Director of Tuan Viet Leather and Footwear Company, said that up to now, the number of signed orders is enough for the company to manufacture until the second quarter of 2021. Guaranteed jobs for 1,200 workers of the enterprise.
“Currently the orders are quite large and I have to consider whether to receive more or not. Because before that, the company had to cut a number of employees because of the disease, so if we receive too many orders, it may not guarantee the product quality ”, Mr. Cuong shared.
At the same time, the company is in talks with customers about the spread of orders in the middle of the year, the low time of the footwear industry, instead of just rushing to the beginning of the year to create stability for production and supply. product level.
Mr. Tran Viet Cuong, Strategic Director of Tuan Viet Footwear Company. (Photo: Nhu Huynh)
Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Chi Trung, Chairman of Gia Dinh Group Joint Stock Company, shared that the company’s orders began to show signs of recovery from the last months of 2020 when partners started. order.
The reason is that the demand for fashion items, especially shoes, is on an increasing trend at this time, so the company’s orders have been received by the end of March 2021.
“The year 2021 is the year the leather and footwear industry places a lot of expectations when Vietnam has signed the EVFTA Agreement and a number of agreements, so if that advantage is taken advantage, orders will move from major markets like China. National and some countries. This is one of the advantages that businesses must grasp and must have a plan to promote that opportunity ”, Mr. Trung said.
This is also the judgment of the Chairman of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association Nguyen Duc Thuan when he said that the leather and footwear industry is showing good signs when large enterprises leading the market have orders for the year. 2021.
Along with that, manufacturing enterprises in China began to recognize the risks from this market and began to shift production. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises must improve productivity, accumulate finance, accumulate science and technology, master the supply chain, and meet the environmental needs to receive.
“Enterprises have to worry about completing supply chains, recovering production quickly, businesses that slow down at this time will lose opportunities”, Mr. Thuan emphasized.
With the rice industry, Mr. Pham Thai Binh, Director of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, said: “The disease situation is still complicated, but despite the decline in other industries, for the food industry. Food like rice is still an essential commodity for consumers, so Vietnamese rice will still increase exports in the coming time ”.
The proof is that in the first month of 2021, Vietnam’s rice export price movement remained at a high level. In the last week of January, the price of 5% broken rice in Vietnam increased from 500 – 505 USD / ton to 505 – 510 USD / ton on Thursday (28/1) due to scarce supply.
Meanwhile, with the textile industry, Mr. Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), said that the purchasing power of the market in 2021 will still stand still, there is no breakthrough growth if the situation the COVID-19 translation is still complicated.
“Even the global trade situation can affect 2022, the ability to recover must be in 2023, not” overnight “can be recovered, so Vietnam’s garment and textile are facing challenges and pressures. force “, Mr. Giang said.
Accordingly, the textile and garment industry will have to turn the situation around with strategic adaptation solutions in the context of complicated epidemics and achieve the 2021 target with an export turnover of 39-40 billion USD.
In addition, according to businesses, Vietnam’s participation in deeper integration into the bloc and the economy through a series of free trade agreements, especially EVFTA, UKVFTA, and RCEP will be a great driver to help create many benefits. for export activities in the coming time.
For example, the first 60 tons of Vietnamese fragrant rice exported to the UK market are exempt from tax according to UKVFTA’s commitment. This will make Vietnamese rice more competitive with other countries that also export fragrant rice to the UK such as Thailand.
However, according to businesses this is an opportunity but at the same time a challenge. “To meet large orders is very difficult compared to before. For example, following the trend of increasingly minimalist goods and designs, but the quality must be durable, requiring technology to change to meet the needs after COVID-19 translation.
In addition, orders tend to be small, delivery time is urgent while prices tend to decrease. Therefore, it forces the company to improve equipment, raise employees’ awareness and apply 4.0 technology to production and business to ensure the best efficiency ”, the Chairman of Gia Dinh Group Joint Stock Company shared shall.
According to VietnamBiz
