Exporting quickly to the finish line

Frozen durian exported to China promises to increase export turnover for Vietnam - Photo: NGUYEN TRUNG

Exports grew in all product groups, and the export growth rate of domestic enterprises was nearly twice as fast as that of FDI enterprises, which is also a very welcome signal. The trade balance up to this point has a surplus of nearly 31 billion USD.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien

From rice making a record of 5 billion USD, coffee reaching nearly 6 billion USD to textiles confidently reaching 44 billion USD, key industries all recorded impressive growth.

Durian, grapefruit, coconut… not sold in time

Vietnam's fruit export industry is witnessing impressive growth in 2024, with many businesses reporting outstanding business results. This is a positive signal showing that Vietnamese agricultural products are increasingly asserting their position in the international market.

Vina T&T Company, one of Vietnam’s leading fruit exporters, recorded a growth of nearly 30% in the first nine months of the year. “Exports of key products such as durian, grapefruit and coconut to international markets, especially the EU, increased by more than 20% compared to the same period last year,” said Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of the company.

Mr. Tung emphasized that strong demand from the international market is the main driver for this growth. The company expects to exceed the plan at the beginning of the year by 20-25% in the last quarter of 2024.

Not only Vina T&T, many other businesses in the industry are also recording positive results. Huy Long An Company Limited, specializing in banana exports, achieved a growth rate of 15% in the first nine months, bringing the total export volume to 25,000 tons. Mr. Vo Quan Huy, director of the company, shared: "Vietnamese bananas are popular in demanding markets such as Japan and Korea, thanks to their good quality and competitive prices."

Notably, this positive trend is not limited to large enterprises. Vinagreenco, which focuses only on the domestic market, is also receiving many orders.

orders from export units. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hien, director of the company, commented: "Demand from the international market is very strong, creating opportunities for us to expand into the export sector."

With these positive signals, Vietnam's fruit export industry is facing a great opportunity to continue strong growth in the coming time.

Mr. Tung said: “The favorable conditions continue to fall in the last three months of the year, because there are many new products opening. For example, frozen coconut and durian are entering the Chinese market; fresh coconut and grapefruit are also being exported to the US in greater numbers. In general, durian, grapefruit, coconut, etc. cannot be exported fast enough to sell. I think many fruit and vegetable businesses will have double-digit export growth at the end of this year because the market signals are quite favorable.”

Vietnamese pepper exports have made many impressions in European markets and are also among the top agricultural products in the first nine months of 2024 - Photo: QUANG DINH

Rice, coffee hit record

The rice export market is witnessing a spectacular breakthrough year as rice prices continuously set new peaks, opening up the prospect of reaching the 5 billion USD mark in 2024.

According to export enterprises, rice prices are at their highest level in the past three months. Specifically, 5% broken rice is currently trading at 579 USD/ton, up 9 USD compared to last week. 25% broken rice is at 547 USD/ton, while 100% broken rice is at 440 USD/ton.

“The world demand for Vietnamese rice is always very high and the last three months of the year will have bright prospects,” said a representative of an export enterprise. According to this person, orders for November and December for partners in the Philippines and China have been planned, just waiting for the export date, with both volume and value being more positive.

Notably, in addition to traditional markets, Vietnamese rice is making its mark in many new potential markets such as the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea and South America. This market diversification contributes significantly to the industry's export goals.

With the current growth momentum, the industry forecasts that rice exports in 2024 could reach about 8 million tons, bringing in a turnover of more than 5 billion USD - a new record for the Vietnamese crop industry.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association, commented: “Vietnam’s rice export value chain has been built very systematically and is closely linked to the international market. This helps us to be less affected by fluctuations such as India’s lifting of the ban on white rice exports.”

Similarly, coffee exports in 2024 could reach nearly 6 billion USD, the highest level in history. According to Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai - Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), the value of coffee exports in the first nine months of 2024 reached 4.37 billion USD, exceeding the figure of more than 4.24 billion USD for the whole year of 2023.

“Therefore, we can be confident that coffee exports will reach 5 billion USD, or even 5.5 billion USD, in 2024. This is a new record, the highest ever in terms of Vietnam's coffee export value. This year, coffee prices have increased very high because the demand for Robusta coffee beans in the world is increasing sharply, while supply is decreasing, causing the price of this coffee to continuously increase sharply,” said Mr. Hai.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - Data: THAO THUONG

Import and export could reach 800 billion USD

According to experts, in addition to the recovery of demand in many large markets, taking advantage of markets with which Vietnam has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) also helps exports to flourish.

According to Ms. Pham Quynh Mai - Deputy Director of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), growth to Vietnam's FTA markets in recent years has maintained double digits with impressive turnover. Especially when Vietnam signed and implemented three new generation FTAs: EVFTA, CPTPP, UKVFTA, Vietnam's export turnover grew extremely strongly.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, international trade in goods plays an important role in promoting economic growth, with the export pillar becoming one of the three traditional growth drivers. Of which, the total export turnover in the first nine months reached 299.63 billion USD, up 15.4% over the same period last year.

The bright new picture of goods exports in the first nine months of the year is explained by the fact that the growth rate of goods export turnover of the domestic economic sector reached 20.7%, much higher than the growth rate of export turnover of 13.4% of the FDI sector.

Notably, the average export turnover in the following months is higher than the previous months. The average monthly export turnover in the first nine months of 2024 reached 33.29 billion USD, 1.52 billion USD higher than the average monthly export turnover in the first six months of the year. If the export turnover in the following month is maintained higher than the previous month in the fourth quarter of 2024, the total export turnover of goods in 2024 is estimated to set a historical milestone of about 400 billion USD, surpassing the 371.82 billion USD mark of 2022. This result helps Vietnam maintain a trade surplus of 20.79 billion USD, down 0.53% compared to the trade surplus of 20.9 billion USD in the same period in 2023.

Seafood expectations for the last 3 months of the year

According to Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe - General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), it is expected that shrimp, crab, fish, squid, etc. exports will bring in 10 billion USD in 2024 because the first nine months of the year brought in approximately 7 billion USD. The industry's characteristic is that revenue increases in the last months of the year with major holidays or increased purchases to stock up for next year...