Contrasting export performance in the first two months
Contrasting export performance in the first two months
The first two months saw contrasting performance among Vietnam’s major export items, with the textile-clothing and footwear sectors producing upbeat earnings while other major items- e.g. seafood and coffee- saw a flat business.
In January-February, despite the long Tet holiday, the apparel sector still recorded a 17.7 per cent on-year growth in export value to reach $3.42 billion, with exports to the US market accounting for 44 per cent of the total, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas).
Last year Vietnamese firms raked in nearly $10 billion from exporting textile clothing to the US, producing a 12.6 per cent increase on-year, whereas most other heavyweight rivals just registered slight growths or even contractions in export values.
For example, China’s textile garment export value to the US rose less than 1 per cent, India increased by 6 per cent while Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Cambodia saw negative growths.
This year, Vitas expects the Vietnamese textile garment export to the US market to surpass $11 billion, a 13 per cent jump compared to last year.
Besides the apparel industry, the footwear sector has also registered a two-digit growth in the first two months with the aggregate export value exceeding $2 billion, signifying a 23 per cent increase on-year.
According to the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (LEFASO), Vietnam’s footwear export to the US is rising quickly and is forecast to obtain a bigger slice in the market, mostly expanding on the declining share of Chinese-made footwear items.
These performances are in contrast with those of the two other major export items, coffee and seafood.
Accordingly, the seafood sector saw a 9.4 per cent decline in export value falling to $907 million while coffee producers could only ship a total of 241,000 tonnes at $511 million, recording a 25.3 per cent fall in volume and 16.4 per cent in value.
In January 2015, total seafood export value to the US market dropped by nearly 37 per cent to a mere $90 million against January 2014.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) stated the Vietnamese shrimp and Tra fish export items have been heavily disadvantaged by targeted US anti-dumping tariffs since late 2014, an effect which is expected to continue exerting pressure this year.
