Carving out niches

Made-in-Vietnam goods have gradually carved out niches in the world market. Dinh Quoc Thai, Secretary General of the Vietnam Steel Association, said that Vietnam used to depend almost totally on steel imports, but it has become a major steel exporter. Last year, ASEAN was the largest export market of Vietnamese steel, accounting for 28.64 percent of total export value, followed by China with 21.32 percent, the EU 12.56 percent, the US 7.51 percent, and Chinese Taipei 5.05 percent.

Hoang Thi Lien, Chair of the Vietnam Pepper Association, said that over the past decade, Vietnam has surpassed its rivals to become a world-leading pepper exporter, accounting for 60 percent of pepper exports to the global market. Favorable climatic and soil conditions plus low labor costs enable Vietnam to export pepper at more competitive prices compared with similar products of other countries.

In the 2022 pepper season, due to unfavorable weather conditions, pepper output in most major pepper planting countries decreased. Meanwhile, global demand increased three percent compared with last year, creating a special advantage for Vietnam’s pepper exports.

Promoting the export of Vietnamese goods has been a focus of MoIT’s attention for many years. In 2021, the ministry’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) organized 20 consultation sessions on exports to foreign markets, attracting the participation of large numbers of companies. Such activities help increase exports, especially of farm produce, seafood and food.

Practical activities

Recently, the MoIT organized a meeting reviewing the results of trade with foreign markets in the first quarter of 2022. The meeting attracted more than 300 participants from 10 business associations and 51 Vietnamese trade offices and their branches in 46 foreign countries.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, the event offered a chance for business associations to discuss difficulties and favorable conditions for exports, as well as to propose initiatives and seek support for trade promotion activities.

Deputy Minister Hai said Vietnam depends heavily on foreign trade with exports serving as a driving force of economic growth. Therefore, the government is willing to accompany localities, economic sectors and the business community to minimize their difficulties and promote foreign trade.

Under the 2022 National Trade Promotion Program, export promotion activities will be conducted online and offline, including participation in overseas fairs and exhibitions (25 projects), organizing international fairs and exhibitions in Vietnam (six projects), and sending business delegations to foreign countries (13 projects).

Through the Vietnam National Brand Program, Vietrade will select potential export products to receive support in communication and promotion activities abroad. Representatives of companies with potential export products will be sent to Europe for business connection and market survey purposes.

To ensure effective export promotion, Vietrade is seeking tighter cooperation from Vietnamese trade offices abroad in providing updated information about foreign markets, their technical barriers and early warnings of anti-dumping lawsuits, as well as trade and investment incentives for Vietnam. The exchange of information about the import, export opportunities will be intensified. Vietrade will also maintain coordination with these offices on the participation in overseas trade fairs and exhibitions and advertising trade promotion events in Vietnam and major specialized fairs organized by the MoIT.

Hai Linh