VINACHEM

Viet Nam could face numerous difficulties in reaching its export value target for this year because of low growth in total exports for the first four months, experts said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) reported that in the first four months this year Viet Nam reached a year-on-year increase of 6 per cent in total export value to US$52.87 billion. The rate was lower than the growth rate of 7.2 per cent in the first four months of 2015 against the same period of 2014.

The experts were worried about achieving the yearly target in growth rate of total export value at 10 per cent to $181 billion for this whole year.

With the low growth rate in the first four months, the nation's export value must reach an average at $16 billion per month in the remaining eight months to reach the total export value for this year, the ministry said.

That was a big challenge for this nation because the average export value in the first four months stood at $13.2 billion per month, while the average export value in 2015 reached $13.5 billion per month, reported Thoi bao Kinh doanh newspaper.

The ministry said the low growth in exports was mainly due to the strong reduction in export value of the fuel and ore group by 44.9 per cent, while other processing industrial groups had an average growth rate at 5 per cent for each group, including chemical products, textiles, garments and footwear.

The average price of Vietnamese exports dropped as the price of various products, excluding cashew and rice, dropped on the world market, the ministry said.

Pham Ngoc Hung, deputy of HCM City Entrepreneurs Association, said that local enterprises should re-build strategies for production and business and restructure enterprises to increase quality of products and the competitive ability of companies.

The ministry would receive suitable support for local enterprises to operate efficiently in markets where Viet Nam had free trade agreements for expanding their export markets.

It would also update information for local enterprises about the advantages of free trade agreements with Viet Nam's foreign partners.
Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the ministry's Import and Export Department, said enterprises should actively update information about free trade agreements to take full advantage of the agreements and increase the value of their export products.