Viet Nam’s total trade value this year may reach more than US$660 billion, surging 21 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest forecast of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Of the sum, the country is expected to earn $331.1 billion from exports, up 17.2 per cent year-on-year while its imports will likely hit $329 billion, a yearly hike of 25.2 per cent. That may result in a slight trade surplus of $2.1 billion, MoIT said.

This year will see 37 groups of products with export turnover of over $1 billion, four groups higher than that of the previous year.

According to the ministry's forecast, the group of industrial processing goods will reel in the largest share of total export earnings, expected at 86.1 per cent. That is considered a decisive factor in creating a breakthrough in the national export value as well as its trade surplus.

Meanwhile, the group of agricultural, forestry and fishery products will account for 8.4 per cent of the national export turnover.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh attributed these positive figures to the close direction of the Government, the drastic involvement of ministries, branches and local authorities and the great efforts of the business community and the effectiveness of trade promotion activities.

Amid the extremely difficult context due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, ministries, sectors, localities and associations have made efforts to facilitate on-line trade promotions which have been highly appreciated by the local business community, said Khanh during the Viet Nam Export Promotion Forum 2021 on Wednesday.

Participants at the forum held in both in-person and virtual forms also agreed that organising online trade sessions with import-export partners have become an effective solution that has helped domestic businesses connect with their customers.

Director of the Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu said the MoIT has co-ordinated with localities to organise more than 1,000 virtual conferences and millions of online trading sessions, supporting millions of businesses to participate in trade promotion activities on digital platforms in 2021.

It has also created favourable conditions for local firms to join virtual domestic and international trade fairs and exhibitions, Phu said at the event.

Trade promotion activities on digital platforms have helped Vietnamese exporters save costs, shorten the time used for accessing export markets and potential customers, thereby contributing to the country's positive export performance in the past two years.

He added adopting trade promotion on digital platforms has also become an effective solution to support businesses to connect with the market amid the pandemic and has come in line with the national digital transformation process and number of countries and international trade trends.

Than Duc Viet, General Director of Garment 10 Co said the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has more or less negatively affected direct trade promotions. Thus, businesses wanted trade promotions to be carried out on digital platforms and e-commerce activities to be developed. That would be the right solution to resuming and developing supply chains.

Through these trade promotion activities, enterprises wished to bring their products directly to customers instead of through intermediary companies, Viet said, adding that firms also expected to access updated information on the market demand and domestic enterprises by their operating areas.

Information on tariff rates that foreign rivals have enjoyed should be also provided so that domestic enterprises could make timely adjustments when dealing with customers, Viet noted.

In order to help local firms take advantage of opportunities from the recovery of export markets after the COVID-19 pandemic is under control, Phu said the MoIT would continue to co-ordinate with other ministries, branches and localities on trade promotion activities.

In addition, it will facilitate the implementation of the project on promoting the application of information technology and digital transformation in trade promotion activities in the 2021-30 period while focusing on medium and long-term trade promotion programmes for key export industries.

The US remained the biggest buyer of Vietnamese products, importing $84.8 billion worth of goods from the Southeast Asian country in the period, a year-on-year increase of 22.2 per cent. It was followed by China, the EU, ASEAN, South Korea and Japan.

In the 11-month period, China was the largest supplier of products for Viet Nam, exporting to the Southeast Asian country $98.5 billion worth of goods, up 32 per cent from the same period last year.

The country posted a trade surplus of $225 million from January to November, compared to $20.19 billion in the same period last year. — VNS