VINACHEM

HA NOI — Exports to Brazil reached US$296 million in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 160 per cent over the same period last year, according to the Vietnamese trade office there.

Key exports included building materials, industrial products, footwear, garments and rubber products, the office said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade attributed the sizeable increase to success in exporting cement, steel, pottery and electrical products to the Brazilian market, helping offset declines in traditional exports like seafood and footwear in the third quarter caused by difficulties in complying with new Brazilian regulations.

Cement exports to the South American nation totalled over $36 million during the period, while steel exports racked up over $7 million, helping Viet Nam generate a trade surplus with Brazil of nearly $15.6 million for the year so far.

Viet Nam's exports to Brazil had the advantages of reasonable price and quality in a market with a population of 190 million and a growing per-capita income, said the director of the export promotion centre under the ministry's Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), Le Xuan Duong.

However, Duong said, Viet Nam's footwear and garment sectors had yet to fulfil their export potential to Brazil.

Brazilian footwear products already held the lion's share of the Latin American market and were exported to 141 countries worldwide, so Viet Nam hoped to use Brazil as a gateway for Vietnamese footwear to enter other markets in the region, Duong said.

But a number of export products, including seafood and footwear, were facing the risk of additional technical barriers imposed by Brazil, he added. Vietnamese seafood exports to Brazil were currently halted for investigation of breeding and processing conditions and food safety standards.

Vietrade said that to further exploit trade opportunities in Brazil, Vietnamese businesses should better research the market and focus on more value-added products such as electronic components and consumer goods.

(Source: VNS)