Export turnover to hit US $85.5 bln in 2011

Illustration photo

The figures were released by the MoIT at a meeting held on July 4 in Hà Nội to review working performance in the first half and define development orientations for the rest of the year.

In the first six months, export revenue went up 30.3% against the same period last year, reaching US $42.3 billion and meeting 53% of the yearly target.  

Key commodities attributed to the surge in the overall revenue like seafood and footwear, said Mr. Nguyễn Tiến Vỵ, the Head of the Planning Department of the MoIT.

As many as 11 commodities helped Việt Nam pocket over US $1 billion each.

According to Mr. Vy, the export turnover rise is a satisfactory outcome while the country is struggling against a string of difficulties like high inflation rates, rising costs of input materials, increasing interest rates, and impacts from the outside. 

The MoIT forecasted that the agro-forestry and fishery sector would gain around US $19 billion in export turnover in the year, up 25% over 2010. The fields of fuel and minerals would rake in US $10.6 billion, industry, US $45 billion, and garments and textiles, US $6.16 billion.

Despite impressive gains, the MoIT will do its utmost to narrow the trade gap which is predicted to expand to around US $14-14.5 billion.

It will focus on supervising imports of luxury goods such as mobiles, beverage, and cosmetics. These products are permitted to enter Việt Nam only through three international ports in Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng and Hồ Chí Minh cities.

In addition, the Ministry will apply some new procedures for less-than-nine-seat passenger cars to limit imports and improve road-transportation safety, enforce free trade agreements with foreign partners, utilize preferential certificates of origin, and conduct open tax to expand market shares./. 

By Kim Loan