Exporting goods at Ho Guom garment company, My Hao, Hung Yen. (Photo: Tran Viet/TTXVN)
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Three major drivers of Vietnam’s economic growth identified by the Government in 2024 are investment, exports, and consumption.
Kicking off the first days of the Lunar New Year, one of the three “pillars” of exports recorded positive signals, export activities were bustling both on the road and by sea, signaling the revival of Vietnam’s economy.
Building on the success of 2023 with 35 commodities achieving a turnover of $1 billion or more, many enterprises have accelerated production to meet delivery schedules.
Based on the analysis of the domestic and international situation, in order to promote economic growth throughout 2024, at a recent government meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested ministries and localities to have high determination, great efforts, and resolute action with a new spirit and impulse right from the first day, the first month of the year.
At the same time, continue to strongly promote growth drives and in particular, consolidate traditional markets, expand new markets such as the UAE, Africa, Latin America, make good use of opportunities to export agricultural products, and ensure national food security.
Enterprises also innovate production, closely follow consumer demand, and update new technologies to improve product quality and competitiveness.
Electronics and textiles with new breakthroughs
Positive signals are a good start to a prosperous year when, just before the transition from the previous year, Tan Cang Cat Lai, owned by Saigon Newport Corporation, on the occasion of the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, on the evening of February 9 (which is the 30th day of Tet), the port received 7 container vessels, cargo was loaded onto the Uni Perfect vessel of Ever Green Shipping Line with a payload of 19,308 tonnes, a capacity close to 1,618 TEUs for electronic component cargo. The total volume of container handling is about 7,500 TEUs (equivalent to 105,000 tonnes of cargo).
Statistics showed that in February 2024, the phone and component sector continued to be the brightest spot among Vietnam’s major export items, with export turnover estimated at $9.58 billion, an increase of more than 66% compared to January.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that Vietnam’s group of computer, electronic and component products has exploited traditional markets well and sought and developed new ones.
 Sankoh Vietnam Co., Ltd. contributes to the increase in export value of Hoa Binh province. (Photo: Duc Duy/Vietnam+)
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Vietnam exports computer products and electronic components to over 100 markets around the world. The main export markets for computer products and electronic components are China, ASEAN, Japan, South Korea, and there is strong export to the EU market including the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, etc…
In particular, mobile phones and components are also focusing on and achieving breakthroughs in expanding new export markets with potential in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and India.
According to Mr. Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of the Industry Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the development of Vietnam’s electronic industry in the past period is mainly due to large investments from multinational corporations such as South Korea, Japan, etc.
With deep integration into the global economy, Vietnam is becoming a destination for many electrical and electronic product manufacturing companies in the world, thereby, the export of phones and components will create record sales revenues in the coming years.
During the Vietnamese President Joe Biden’s state visit to Vietnam in September 2023, the joint statement of Vietnam and the United States shows that the two sides will cooperate extensively in the field of science and technology.
Vietnam’s semiconductor industry is said to be on the verge of attracting large capital inflows from the United States, in the context of the two countries establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace, Cooperation, and Sustainable Development.
As one of the four commodity groups with a turnover of over $1 billion in February 2024, Vietnam’s textile and garment industry also had a favorable start and continued its race in exporting.
Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that this product group was ranked in the Top 4 export commodities with a turnover of over $1 billion, with a growth rate of 28.6% compared to the same period in 2023. The results were achieved thanks to the recovery of businesses since the end of 2023 when orders increased again due to demand for garments during holidays and Tet.
According to Vinatex Group, the market is gradually warming up, and many retail groups in FTA member economies such as Canada, Australia, Europe… have come to Vietnam in search of a competitively-priced supply chain. Therefore, Vinatex will continue to build links between fiber, textile, and fabric manufacturing businesses to improve the supply chain.
According to Mr. Tran Duc Viet, General Director of May 10 Company, in the future, May 10 will proactively search for and exploit both domestic and international markets, diversify markets, goods, and customers.
In addition, May 10 will continue to consolidate and streamline its organization and apparatus in a lean and reasonable manner; focus on serving production, research, and product conversion… to handle difficult orders, complex product structures, and fast delivery times.
Vietnamese agriculture welcomes good news
Opening the year for new orders, Mr. Pham Thai Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, said that the company has just completed the delivery of a fragrant rice batch to the EU and has new export orders to Malaysia. So, on February 17, the company had to close 30 containers and on February 19 (which is the 10th day of Tet), it closed another 20 containers, totaling more than 1,000 tons of rice for Malaysia.
Packaging of exported rice products at Lộc Trời Group’s factory. (Photo: Vu Sinh/TTXVN)
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According to statistics, in 2023, Vietnam exported nearly 104,000 tons of rice to the EU, exceeding the quota of 80,000 tons/year with revenues of $71.7 million, an increase of 10% in both volume and value compared to 2022.
This is also the second consecutive year of rice exports to the EU exceeding the quota of 80,000 tons/year under the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Currently, 1 ton of organic rice exported to Europe is priced at over $1,500. Not only selling at high prices, but Vietnamese rice also positions itself in the market by proactively deciding whom to sell to and at what price.
As one of the bright spots in the export picture, in this year, the export turnover of frozen durian is likely to increase by an additional 30%. According to experts’ assessments, 2024 will continue to be a year of durian exports, and the price of this item is likely to remain at a good level due to the potential in China, which is still very large.
Meanwhile, the supply from countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia… is still increasing but unable to meet the demand of this densely populated country.
Also, other special fruits such as mangoes, bananas, dragon fruit, fresh coconuts… also received good news with many orders heading to China, the United States, Australia in the first month of the year…
Kicking off the New Year with new orders, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan, founder of the agricultural coffee brand Meet More, said that on February 15, Meet More shipped goods to Cat Lai port for export to the Australian market.
Specifically, 2 containers of 40 feet each containing about 18 tons of various agricultural coffee products such as cassava coffee, taro coffee, mango coffee, salted coffee… will arrive in Australia about 18 days later. In addition, the company is urgently preparing a container for the US market this month.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan, the orders were signed at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, then exported immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday. Currently, workers have returned to the factory and started to complete orders to meet delivery schedules.
For seafood exports, statistics from the General Department of Customs showed that in general, Vietnam’s seafood exports have shown signs of recovery since the end of 2023 and are likely to increase again in 2024, especially in the second half of the year. It is noteworthy that both exports of shrimp and pangasius, which dipped sharply in 2023, will recover.
According to forecasts by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in 2024, Vietnam’s shrimp exports will increase by 10-15% compared to 2023, especially in the last 6 months when inflationary pressures cool down, inventory levels decrease at importers, and shrimp prices increase again.
Regarding pangasius, the industry aims to strive for an area of 5,700 hectares of aquaculture, a commercial pangasius output of about 1.7 million tons, and an estimated export value of pangasius of $2 billion.
Balance and diversification of markets
Forecasts from analysts show that the situation in the world and the region will continue to be complex and difficult to predict, with uneven economic growth, trade, and investment prospects, and increasing risks. Therefore, in order to achieve export growth of 6% as planned in 2024, the important role of trade promotion and proactive support from functional agencies with enterprises is needed.
Analysts also point out the need to balance and diversify markets, customers, and types of supplied products to maintain traditional customers and markets, and avoid putting all eggs in one basket when the market encounters difficulties. Moreover, businesses need to be ready to seize opportunities as well as flexibly respond to challenges with appropriate policies.
Economist Nguyen Bich Lam believes that exports of goods and services will continue to be an important driving force not only in this decade but also in the next decade. Therefore, he proposes that functional agencies urgently grasp which industries and sectors will become trends in the world economy in the coming time, and promptly amend and supplement the Growth Strategy based on exports to integrate Vietnam into the leading group in some areas of the world economy.
In order to contribute to the overall growth of the national economy with a GDP growth rate of about 6-6.5%, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said the trade sector identifies the continued promotion of exports as an important pillar.
According to Minister Nguyen Hong Dien, 2024 is a year of decisive significance to the results of implementing the 5-year plan goals (2021-2025) in the context of anticipated difficulties and challenges. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will focus on promoting international economic integration, proactively recommending opportunities from foreign relations with large countries.
This is to take the initiative to seize the investment shift wave of key industries to third countries by multinational corporations, especially in areas of Vietnam’s needs and advantages.
For example, the electronic industry, digital infrastructure, logistics infrastructure, clean energy, new materials industry, mineral mining and processing, chips, and semiconductors.
In addition, the ministry will enhance the effective implementation of close connections between foreign-invested enterprises and domestic enterprises to develop management skills, technology transfer, and contribute to improving the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises.
On the other hand, the ministry will continue to promote the role of the Vietnam Trade Offices system abroad in supporting localities and enterprises in effectively exploiting FTAs of which Vietnam is a member. Furthermore, actively consult and negotiate new and upgraded FTAs with potential partners in the Middle East, Africa, and South America….
Especially, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will enhance support for enterprises to shift to official exports in connection with building brands, aiming for sustainable exports./.-
Uyen Huong
