2017 is considered as a successful year for export and import of Binh Duong with an estimated export turnover of USD 28.533 billion, import at USD 23.819 billion, and trade deficit over USD 4.7 billion. The key export items in Binh Duong continue to achieve high growth rate and make up a large proportion of total import-export turnover of the province.
Export revenue of Binh Duong in 2018 is expected to continue to have many advantages. In this photo: Production line at Thai Binh Shoes Company. Photo: Phuong Le
Major exporting commodities all grow
In 2017, export turnover of the province increased by 17.6% from 2016, exceeding 1.3% of the plan in 2017. Twenty three major exportation commodities of the province have achieved quite good growth. Highly valued export items such as wood reached USD 4.03 billion, textiles USD 3.29 billion, and footwear USD 2.65 billion.
Regarding the wood industry, although domestic and import prices are on the upward trend, with a large volume of export orders plus an increase in investment in machinery and technology and expansion of production, export turnover of this item, as a result, increased by 19.9% from 2016. Particularly for the European Union (EU) market, with positive impacts of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which is expected to come into force in early 2018, and the voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law, Governance, Trade in Timber and Wood Products briefly signed by Vietnam and the EU in May 2017, contributing to the export growth of wood products of Binh Duong enterprises in this market.
For the garment and textile industry, the export volume of this year was plentiful plus the domestic material price and stable import while the processing price did not increase over the same period; thus, creating favorable conditions for export. This represents a growth of 16.7% over the previous year. It can be seen that the withdrawal of the United States from the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) has not recognized á the negative impact on exports of Vietnam in general and the textile and garment industry in particular. Meanwhile, in other markets such as the EU, South Korea and Japan, textiles and garments are gaining competitive advantage from the free trade agreements signed with Vietnam. As for footwear, export turnover also increased by 19.2% from 2016.
According to the Department of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is one of the largest footwear exporters in the EU. The volume of export orders in 2017 increased by 8-10% from 2016 thanks to good quality, nice design and satisfaction of safety standards of EU market. Besides, the footwear export products of Binh Duong are gradually affirming the competitive advantage in the international market and are preferred by EU customers. Along with that, the price of raw materials of footwear industry is stable, not fluctuated from previous years, contributing to success of the footwear industry of Binh Duong.
Phan Thanh Duc, General Director of Binh Duong Garment Joint Stock Company, said that the company has 4 main factories; 100% of garment products are exported. In recent years, the company has produced 4.8 million products a year; export turnover is on averagely USD 60 million a year. In 2017, the company is estimated to gain USD 62 million of export turnover.
Exportation advantage well exploited
The exportation results achieved in 2017 will create momentum for Binh Duong's exportation growth in 2018. The good news is that the business investment environment and competitiveness of the province continue to be improved together with the efforts in administrative reforms, contributing to attraction of investment capital into the province to further increase and create momentum for exportation development of the province.
Sharing about the advantages for the footwear industry in 2018, Nguyen Duc Thuan, Chairman of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association said that the footwear industry is an area of interest for Italian businesses. With the experience of a country gaining much achievements in the footwear industry, Italy will support Vietnamese companies to improve their product quality through the cooperation and launch of Vietnam-Italy Shoe Technology Center in Di An Town to transfer technology, consultancy and support for training of trainers for the footwear industry in Vietnam in general and footwear in Binh Duong province in particular. Vietnam's footwear industry is having a great opportunity to strengthen its trade relations with Italy as well as the EU market. The Vietnam-Italy Shoe Technology Center will contribute to boosting researches and development of local footwear products and training of high-tech laborers to apply modern machines and advanced technologies in the world in order to raise the quality of human resources and capability of designing and producing footwear of Vietnam.
In 2018, Binh Duong continues to promote the development of small and medium enterprises in the province and trade promotion program in 2018. The province also supports enterprises exhibiting at home and abroad to help them promote products and expand the market. At the same time, the program of international economic integration, e-commerce program, etc. are to be well implemented.
Reported by Phuong Le - Translated by Vi Bao
