Vietnam’s Exports to US to Reach $10Bln This Year
Source: Vietnam Economic Times - January 2, 2007
The fast-growing economy of Vietnam is forecast to bag around $10 billion from exports to the United States in 2007, up 25% against 2006, according to Nguyen Duy Khien, Vietnamese Trade Counselor to the US.
The strong growth of the country’s export value is fueled by advantages generated from full membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the US’s approval of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Vietnam, he said.
Additionally, the US has great demand for imports costing $1.7- 1.8 trillion annually, including $300 billion for electronic products, $100 billion of apparel, $25 billion of woodwork products, $20 billion of footwear and $12 billion of seafood. These high-demand imports of the US are also listed among Vietnam’s key export items, thus the most important thing is to boost local exporter’s competitiveness against
foreign exporters of the same products in the US market, Khien stressed.
Last year, bilateral trade between Vietnam and the US surpassed $9 billion, of which, around $8 billion was Vietnam’s exports and the rest imports.
The PNTR passage is hoped to accelerate bilateral trade to $15 billion by 2010.
The US is now Vietnam’s largest export market, while the ASEAN country ranks 38th among countries and territories exporting to the US and 70th among importers of products from the foreign nation.
Vietnam mainly exports garments and textiles, footwear and wooden products, and aquatic products to the US, while it imports mechanical equipment and machinery, plastic, wood, and electric and medical
equipment from the foreign market.
