HCM City is likely to achieve exports of US$35.2 billion this year, a 15.1 per cent increase from last year, and imports of $43.1 billion, a 13.2 per cent rise. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu

HCM City is likely to achieve exports of US$35.2 billion this year, a 15.1 per cent increase from last year, and imports of $43.1 billion, a 13.2 per cent rise.

The city accounts for 72 per cent of the Southern Key Economic Zone’s total imports and exports and 19.4 per cent of Viet Nam’s.

An import-export gateway for the southern region, a lot of the city’s imports make their way to neighbouring provinces such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An, often to serve production for exports.

The provinces enjoy large trade surpluses – Binh Duong $4 billion, Dong Nai $2 billion and Long An $500 million.

Pham Thanh Kien, head of the Department of Trade and Industry, said his department is boosting trade promotion in key markets that buy more than $1 billion worth of goods – such as mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea – to reduce the trade deficit.

It is developing a plan to enhance exports in 2017-20, he said.

The plan would guide policy making for increasing export of high value-added items like computers and parts, software and digital products. — VNS