The information was shared by Mr. Tran Duy Dong - Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) at the Conference to review the work of the first 6 months of the year and implement the tasks for the last 6 months of 2023 of the Industry and Trade sector taking place on the morning of 7/02. 7, in Hanoi.

Reasons for the sharp drop in exports

According to inter-ministerial estimates, exports in the first 6 months of 2023 were estimated at 164.5 billion USD, down 12.1% over the same period last year.

According to Mr. Tran Duy Dong, the reason for the sharp decline in exports in the first 6 months of 2023 is that since the third quarter of 2022, inflation has increased, even reaching a historic peak in many years in our key export markets. like USA, EU...

Mr. Tran Duy Dong - Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) spoke at the conference

Commodity prices increased under the influence of inflation while people's incomes did not improve, unemployment rate increased, leading to a sharp decrease in consumption demand, which directly affected export activities. of Vietnam.

Entering 2023, despite the implementation of measures to cope with inflation, inflation is still high and the economies of countries are still facing the risk of economic decline.

In the United States and European countries, many large banks are in a difficult situation. The stronger policy response of the Central Banks in the direction of monetary tightening has affected the investment and consumption demand of the economy, which has faced many difficulties since the end of 2022. Affected workers have affected the import demand for non-essential consumer goods, which are the main export items of our country.

The reopening of the Chinese market after the epidemic also added a large source of goods, creating strong competitive pressure for Vietnamese goods in export markets. The structure of export goods of China and Vietnam is quite similar while our exports to China have not grown as strongly as expected because China has not fully "recovered" after a long time of implementing the policy. Zero Covid and low demand.

On the input side for production, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to be complicated, causing the global supply chain to break. costs push up the prices of exported goods.

"It can be seen that export businesses are currently facing many difficulties, in which the absence of orders leads to capacity reductions or even production stops," said Mr. Tran Duy Dong . .

Mr. Tran Duy Dong - Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) spoke at the conference

Regarding the cause of the decline in exports in the first 6 months of 2023, according to Mr. Tran Duy Dong, the most important reason is the decrease in aggregate demand and increased competition among exporting countries whose export structure is in copper. Accordingly, the industry with the main export markets of the United States, the EU, etc., such as textiles, footwear, wood, and seafood, all declined sharply.

Second, input costs remain high while export prices do not increase or even decrease due to high competition in exporting countries.

Third, a number of key commodities such as seafood, wood and wood products, iron and steel, and plastic products are subject to increased trade remedies in exporting countries.

Fourth, importing countries set requirements for sustainable development and environmentally friendly production, so in the context of a decline in orders for textiles, leather and footwear, customers prioritize orders from manufacturing countries that have investment from the development of green and sustainable production.

Another reason is that although there have been many improvements in recent years, the quality of our products, especially agricultural products, is still unstable and uneven. use science and technology and convert to official export.

Bright signal and 8 key solutions from now until the end of the year

According to Mr. Tran Duy Dong, now export activities have regained the momentum of recovery and growth. The large trade promotion (12.2 billion USD) has contributed to improving the balance of payments, improving foreign reserves, creating a large room for monetary policy management. Exports of industrial goods fell sharply while agricultural products grew quite well, especially vegetables, rice and cashew nuts.

To regain the growth momentum in exports, Mr. Tran Duy Dong said that in the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to implement 8 main solutions as follows:

Firstly, coordinate with ministries and branches to remove difficulties for businesses. Accordingly, supporting production, improving business investment environment, in which focus is on completing legal documents on import and export; propose more fiscal and monetary policies to support businesses to increase supply, reduce costs and create more competitive products.

Second, the Ministry and the Import-Export Department will preside over the synchronous implementation of programs in Vietnam's commodity import-export strategy to 2030 and our key product development strategy, in which the export strategy rice exports.

Third, continue to promote market information and trade promotion. Which focuses on building the image of a reputable Vietnamese export enterprise. In which, there is an activity to announce reputable Vietnamese enterprises.

Fourthly, effectively take advantage of opportunities from trade agreements, which focus on completing procedures soon to sign an FTA with Israel; speeding up negotiations to sign trade agreements with potential markets (UAE, Mercosur, ...) to support businesses to take advantage of commitments in CPTPP, EVFTA, UKVFTA agreements to boost exports and increase exports Strengthen propaganda on rules of origin and issue Certificates of Origin, self-certification of origin to the Departments of Industry and Trade, industry associations and exporters.

Fifth, coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with countries, especially China, to open more export markets for other Vietnamese fruit and vegetable products such as green-skinned pomelo, fresh coconut, avocado, etc. pineapple, milkweed, lemon, cantaloupe...

Sixth, promoting reform of administrative procedures in the field of import and export, in which, focusing on further simplifying administrative procedures in the issuance of Certificates of Origin (C/O), allowing businesses to Self-printing C/O from the eCoSys system of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and promoting the declaration and submission of electronic C/O application form AK and electronic VK to the Korean market.

Seventh , continue to implement solutions to develop logistics services and facilitate trade activities.

8th , to increase the speed of import and export clearance at the border gate area between Vietnam and China, especially for seasonal agricultural and aquatic products; have solutions to quickly switch, strongly switch to official export.