Vietnam Top Trade Events in 2009

Vietnam Economic Times online newspaper has voted the country’s top trade events in 2009 as follows:

 

1. The government had to revise down 2009’s export growth to 3% or US$64.6 billion from the target of 13% in late May. The Ministry of Industry and Trade made consecutive estimates on export value fall to US$59 billion and US$56.7 billion, down 6.5% and 9.5% on-year, respectively.

 

2. This year was the first time Vietnam has witnessed a fall in export value since the country adopted the doi moi (Renewal) to open its economy in 1986. The General Statistics Office estimates Vietnam has fetched US$56.584 billion from goods exports in 2009, down 9.7% from a year earlier.

 

3. Prices of imports and exports fell sharply due to negative effects of the global economic downturn.

 

4. Exports of agro-forestry-fisheries are valued at US$15.3 billion, surpassing US$1.3 billion of the government’s target.

 

5. Vietnam exported US$2.723 billon worth of gemstones and precious metals this year, up 243.1% on-year, helping narrow the country’s trade deficit to US$12.246 billion.

 

6. Vietnam slashed thousands of import tax lines in line with its commitments to CEPT/AFTA, ACFTA, AKFTA, AJCEP in 2009.

 

7. The year saw strong fluctuations of forex rates. The State Bank of Vietnam decided to raise the daily trading band of the dong against the U.S. dollar to plus and minus 5% in March, up from 3% in late 2008. The SBV, however, had to narrow the band to 3% and devalued the dong by 5.44% to VND17,961 on Nov 26 to stabilize domestic monetary market.

 

8. Vietnam is facing growing numbers of anti-dumping lawsuits with 39 cases as of July 2009. The country has ranked the seventh out of 100 countries in having to cope with the highest number of anti-dumping lawsuits. (vneconomy)