The export earnings continued increasing in April but the pace was slower, prompting worries about the failure of the realisation of the US$46.75 billion export revenues in 2007.
The April export statistics showed that the export earnings in the month were US$3.95 billion, totalling US$14.44 billion in the first four months of the year, up 22 per cent compared with the same period of the year earlier.
From January to April, two commodities generated more than US$2 billion export revenues, namely crude oil with US$2.356 billion and apparel and textile with US$2.198 billion. Other industries with the four month export takings of over US$1 billion include aquatic products with US$1.036 billion and footwear with US$1.195 billion. In addition, other mainstay exports were also reported positive growths.
Notably, coffee generated nearly US$1 billion benchmark, US$947 million. This commodity was the fastest-growing export during the four month, with a rise of 84 per cent in quantity and 134 per cent in terms of revenues.
On the contrary, two major exports, rice and rubber, suffered sharpest drops in the period. Vietnam shipped only 1.4 million tonnes of rice worth US$443 million. However, the shipment in April soared strongly and was expected to be a momentum for the following months’ growth. The rubber export brought in only US$316 million in the four months, down in both volume and value. However, like rice, the export of rubbers increased sharply in April.
In spite of not being a mainstay export, the fall of bike export also triggered serious concerns because the turnover was down 63 per cent year on year in the four months. Meanwhile, the pepper suffered a shrinkage in quantity but enjoyed a rise in value, primarily thanks to the global price rise.
In short, the four-month rising export still failed to meet the expectations. On average, the monthly revenue never exceeded US$3.96 billion, the necessary amount to fulfil the US$46.75 billion export revenues in the year
However, experts said the export normally goes slowly in the initial months of the year and accelerates in the last months. The four-month export revenues, in spite of slow growth, were still over 20 per cent higher than the same period last year. Especially, the April growth was very strong compared with the earlier months.
In April, the service export brought in US$1.695 billion. Meanwhile, the import in the month took US$4.5 billion, aggregating US$16.29 billion, up 32.8 per cent year on year.
P.V
Vietnamese
