The outlook is becoming brighter for Vietnam ’s export activities as turnover reached  US $4.75 billion  in July this year, a slight increase of 1 % compared to June’s figures.

This is considered to be an encouraging sign that heralds a possible bounce-back in exports for the country, especially against the backdrop of plunging world demand due to the global financial crisis.

However, the slight month-on-month rise of 1 % in July export revenue can hardly reverse the downward trend of Vietnam ’s exports in the first seven months of 2009.

Statistics indicate that total export earnings so far topped US $32.3 billion, down 13.4 % compared to the corresponding period in 2008.

Rice is the only export staple to keep its rising trend. Vietnam exported 4.3 million tonnes of rice in seven months, fetching nearly US $2 billion – up 46 % in volume and four % in value.

Meanwhile, crude oil, another of the main staples, experienced the deepest plunge, 45 %, followed by rubber, 43 %, coal, 18 %, cashew nuts, 17.7 % and coffee, 16 %.

The office pointed out that while challenges to export activities remain, the country’s imports in July rose to the highest level within the last four months to US $1.25 billion. The total import value of the first seven months reached US $13.4 billion, equal to 10.5 % of the export value.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade encourages local exporters to expand their product lines and create more goods with higher added value in order to achieve the target of earning US $64.57 billion from exports and keeping the import surplus at between US$ 10-12 billion for the year.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn