Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -Vietnam’s exports this year could grow by 3-4 percent despite the COVID-19pandemic, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The ministry said in the firstnine months of the year, the country’s export activities still maintainedpositive growth while many economies in the world and the region saw negativegrowth. This shows local production activities have gradually recovered afterbeing hit by the pandemic.

Statistics from the ministryshowed that the export turnover in January-September period increased by4.1 percent over the same period last year. Notably, the export turnover in thethird quarter of the year reached 80 billion USD, representing an 11 percentyear-on-year increase and up 34 percent from the previous quarter.

“This showed that exports haverecovered positively in the third quarter of 2020. This recovery focused on thegroup of processed industrial goods, with the export turnover increasing by4.7 percent over the same period in 2019, accounting for 84.6 percent of thetotal export turnover,” said Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai.

Imports decreased by 0.7 percentcompared to the corresponding period last year, but turnover decreased ingroups that do not serve production, such as less than 9-seat cars; cameras,fruits and vegetables. Meanwhile, imports of mainly raw materials and fuels forproduction only decreased by 0.3 percent over the same period last year.

Therefore, in the third quarterof 2020, the import turnover reached 68.5 billion USD, up 3 percent over thesame period last year and 18.5 percent over the previous quarter, showing thatproduction began to recover, increasing import demand.

Hai said the ministry hasreviewed sectors to update and consider solutions to remove difficulties forbusinesses, promoting production and exports.

Industrial production, exportsand domestic trade for the whole year of 2020 are expected to be more positivethan the assessment in July.

“Exports to the US and othermarkets would also have a higher growth rate compared to the beginning of theyear due to the increasing demand for consumption in the last months of theyear,” he added.

EVFTA enhances growth

Vietnam officially implementedthe Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) from the beginning of August. Theimplementation has seen positive results. In addition to seafood, prices ofrice exported to the EU have increased compared to before the agreement tookeffect.

Many other products such as mobilephones, machines, spare parts, garments and textiles, seafood and coffee werealso expected to see an increase in export turnover in the European market.

Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Directorof MoIT’s Import-Export Department, said in August, Vietnam’s export turnoverto the EU reached 3.25 billion USD, up 4.65 percent over the same period lastyear. In September, export turnover to this market continued to maintain strongmomentum, up about 14.4 percent over the same period last year.

“The positive results showedthat the implementation of the EVFTA has helped businesses take advantageof the market, especially in the context that the economy has been heavilyaffected by COVID-19. Currently, businesses have applied the provisions of theEVFTA,” Hai said.

The ministry would promptlyprovide information on the market to businesses, through coordinating withtrade agencies as well as trade promotion organisations, helping businessesdevelop better plans.

It would also increase tradepromotion and brand building. Recently, many businesses have promoted theapplication of digital technology in organising trade promotion activitiesonline. The trade facilitation will also continue to be promoted by the MoIT.It would review and simplify regulations on business conditions; as well asco-ordinate with industries to cut logistics costs.

“In the long term, the MoITwould co-ordinate with industries to promote production restructuring toincrease high-quality export products, to meet the market’s demand and increasethe localisation rate in exports. For agricultural products, the ministry willco-ordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to promotelarge scale agricultural production associated with preservation, processing,purchasing and consumption and thereby promote the production linkage,” headded./.