Vietnam has surpassed Chile, Colombia, the Philippines and Spain to be listed among 30 biggest exporters to the U.S. in 2007, according to a report by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
ITC statistics indicated that Vietnam's shipments to the U.S., its top market, reached US$10.54 billion last year, up 25 per cent on year, mainly driven by traditional items of apparel (36 per cent), woodwork (36 per cent), electric equipment (67 per cent) and coffee (52 per cent).
Of the commodities shipped to the U.S. market, apparel exports continued to take lead with export revenues of US$4.3 billion, up 36 per cent on year.
The U.S. Trade Secretary predicted Vietnam would become the 2nd forex earner, only after China, from exporting apparel to the American market in 2008, with estimated value of US$6.1 billion.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade forecast the sector's export turnover to the U.S. will reach US$5.4 billion this year because the U.S.'s supervision mechanism over apparel products would be valid until the end of this year.
Woodwork exports to the U.S. last year soared 36 per cent to US$1.2 billion, ranking the second, followed by footwear (US$900 million), seafood (US$692 million) and electric equipment (US$350 million).
Exports of coffee to the U.S. from the world's second-biggest producer increased 52 per cent to US$307 million.
Crude oil exports to the U.S., however, fell 18 per cent to US$446 million because state-owned Vietnam Oil & Gas Group's output slipped for a third straight year.
Last year, the U.S. suffered trade deficit with Vietnam widening 17 per cent to US$8.72 billion as U.S. exports to the Southeast Asian country surged 84 per cent to US$1.8 billion.
Despites the worry about a possible recession of the U.S. economy, Vietnam expects that the country's export turnover to the vast market would gain US$13.1 billion this year, up 28 per cent against 2007.
Economists said they are positive that Vietnam will jump to higher position among the list of top 30 exporters to the U.S. thanks to its advantage of impressive growth and closer cooperation between the two nations. (Pioneer, Bloomberg)
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