In the first nine months, exports of phones and parts reached US$15.5 billion, an increase of 75 per cent compared to the same period last year.— Photo baohaiquan

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Exports of electronics, spare parts and phones saw the highest growth rate among 10 items with high turnover, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

In the first nine months, exports of phones and parts reached US$15.5 billion, an increase of 75 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In 2009, export turnover of phones and parts ranked ninth, and climbed to fourth in 2010 after textiles and garments, crude oil and footwear.

In 2011 and 2012, phones and parts jumped to second and then topped the list during the first nine months of this year.

Products assembled in Viet Nam are available in more than 50 countries, including the EU and India, which have strict requirements.

Le Ngoc Son, chairman of the Viet Nam Electronic Industries Association, said that exports of electronics, phones and parts are forecast to hit $20 billion by the end of this year.

However, according to MoIT, the export growth of items comes mostly from foreign invested companies.

These include multinational corporations such as Samsung, Intel, Canon, Nidec, Fujitsu, Brother, Panasonic, Renesas, Foxconn, and Bosch.

They all have built factories in Viet Nam that export phones, electronics, computers, printer products and parts.

The multinationals have strengthened their market share by taking advantage of preferential policies and cheap labour costs in Viet Nam.

Localisation ratio

Economists said that while export turnover of phones, electronics and parts was high, the real gained value was still low compared to other countries in the region.

They said that the electronics industry still must import a large volume of raw materials.

Local electronic enterprises make a small part of export turnover since they mostly do outsourcing and assembling for foreign firms.

Few local Vietnamese firms are capable of supplying parts for foreign companies. For example, Nokia has used raw materials from 10 local suppliers.

Son said the Vietnamese electronics businesses should become part of supply chains of global big corporations to improve production levels and upgrade technology.

The aim is to make finished products with high localisation ratio. — VNS