Export continues to be a bright spot in the Vietnamese economy despite several difficulties caused by the ongoing economic slump.
Impressive growth
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country’s total export turnover in 2012 is likely to reach around US$113 bln, up 16.6% over the last year, and beyond the target set by the National Assembly.
It cited statistics from the General Customs Office as saying the country's total import export turnover in October was US$20.3bln, up 8% compared to September. Of this figure, export value accounted for US$9.9bln, up 4.4%.
The country’s total import export
turnover over the past 10 years reached US$187.26bln, up 12.3% compared to the
corresponding period of last year. Of this figure, export turnover gained
US$93.45bln, up 18.4%... 
Garment & textile products for export being manufactured at International Garment Private Enterprise
Binh Duong’s total import export turnover in October also reached US$1.178bln, up 5% compared to September, in which the foreign investment sector achieved US$955.2mln, up 4.4%. The figure also brought the province’s total import export turnover over the past 10 months to US$9.461.4bln, up 15.7% compared to the corresponding period of last year. Of this figure, the foreign investment sector obtained US$7.728.8bln, up 17.9% while the domestic investment sector achieved US$1.732.5bln, up 6.8% compared to the same period of last year.
Also during the period, some export products in Binh Duong gained high growth compared to the same period of last year, including fisheries (up 21.5%), cashew nuts (up 29.3%), rubber (up 3.7%), garment (up 3.3%), footwear (up 10.7%), electronics (up 2.3%), woodwork (up 8.4%)…
Textile & apparel to exceed the target
In October, garment and textile industry took lead in export turnover with US$1.4bln. The industry’s export turnover over the past 10 months was US$12.54bln, up 8.2% compared to the corresponding period of last year. Hence, this is seen as a spearheading industry and it plays an important role in the country’s target to recover economic growth and ensure the balance of trade.
According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the country’s total export import export turnover by the end of the year is likely to achieve between US$17bln and US$17.5bln, up US$15bln compared to the set target in early this year. Despite difficulties, Vietnam’s textile and apparel export market to EU and US has not seen much fluctuation.
Le Hong Phoa, Chairman of Binh Duong Textile and Apparel Association said that members of the association will strive to secure around US$1.2bln in export turnover by the end of the year. Till now, the whole association has obtained around US$1bln in export turnover.
Flexibility
Despite the world’s economic downturn, Vietnam’s export industry has still maintained growth. This has come from enterprises’ flexibility in production and business.
Many enterprises have managed to expand their export market for better development. Hoa Sen Group is an typical example for this. Tran Ngoc Chu, General Director of Hoa Sen Group said that the group’s products are present in nearly 30 countries and territories in the world.
Reported by Thanh Son-Translated by K.T
