Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Electronics and woodwork became the fifth and sixth members of the “One Billion Dollar Club”, a so-called recognition group for exported goods which earn Vietnam at least one billion USD annually.
The robust growth of electronics and woodwork exports this year helped expand the club’s membership which had remained at four since 2003. The other members are crude oil, garment and textile, footwear and seafood.

The six goods are estimated to make up two-thirds of Vietnam’s export revenue.

Exports of electronics and computers have made a big jump from 686 million USD in 2003 to 1 billion USD plus this year, making the industry the fifth biggest export earner.

Meanwhile, woodwork ranked sixth in the club after reaching the 1 billion-USD mark from 567.2 million USD in 2003.

But, the number one product which makes Vietnam the most money still belongs to crude oil with outbound shipments earning Vietnam nearly 5.7 billion USD this year.

Crude oil accounts for 21.8 per cent of the country’s total export revenue. The export amount of crude oil has increased by 15.5 per cent year-on-year while the export price has surged by 31.9 per cent.

Following crude oil is garment and textile goods which are estimated to contribute 4.2 billion USD or 16.4 per cent to the country’s export revenue this year.

Footwear ranks third bringing in more than 2.5 billion USD from exports, followed by seafood with nearly 2.4 billion USD.

But, one weakness remains for the country’s top exported goods. Vietnam is still exporting much of its natural resources like crude oil, which cannot be processed within Vietnam, and semi-processed seafood products, said experts.

Also, footwear, apparel and electronic companies have been outsourcing or contracting out assembly work which has lowered the value of its products.

Reported by Ngoc Minh - Translated by T.H.
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 27 December, 2004, 22:50:13 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News