Over the past 9 months, the whole country has 32 products with export turnover of over USD 1 billion. In particular, the growth rate is mainly achieved in products where Vietnam has strengths and well taken advantages of free trade agreements (FTAs).

Providing information at a press conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the afternoon of October 12, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said that import and export in the first nine months of 2022 continued to increase over the same period, reaching nearly USD 558 billion. In which, exports reached USD 282.3 billion, an increase of 17.2%.

More specifically, according to Mr. Hai, exports increased by more than 2 times compared to the target of the industry and trade (the target for the whole year is to increase exports by about 8%). Notably, growth in two main commodity groups, namely, industrial processing products (increased by 17.4%) and agricultural and aquatic products (increased by 15.6%) were both recorded and the high growth rate is  seen in the group of fuels and minerals (increased by 44.9%).

Also according to Mr. Hai, over the past 9 months, the whole country has 32 items with export turnover of over USD 1 billion, 2 items higher than compared to the same period last year. In particular, the growth focused on products in which Vietnam has strengths and well taken advantages of FTAs such as textiles and garments (increased by 24%) and footwear (increased by 36%).

“Enterprises have effectively taken the advantages of FTAs to boost exports. The traditional market has been fully taken advantage of, new markets are being expanded through a series of measures,” said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade.

In the opposite direction, import turnover of goods reached nearly USD 276 billion, an increase of 12.8% over the same period last year and is basically well controlled. However, imports of goods as production input for export and essential goods increased, accounting for nearly 94%; imports of the group of goods not encouraged to import account for nearly 6%.

"The trade balance continued to maintain a trade surplus of VND 6.76 billion, contributing positively to the balance of payments, stabilizing exchange rates and stabilizing other macroeconomic indicators of the economy," Mr. Hai emphasized.

Regarding the fact that Malaysia has become the 9th member to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Ms. Pham Quynh Mai, Deputy Director of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said, on October 5, Malaysia officially announced that it has completed ratifying the CPTPP Agreement.

Accordingly, this Agreement will enter into force for Malaysia on November 29, 2022. Out of 11 countries that have signed the CPTPP, Malaysia is the 9th to ratify this agreement, after Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Vietnam and Peru.

Mai emphasized that Malaysia's ratification of the CPTPP Agreement will help Vietnamese goods enjoy preferential tax rates under the Agreement when exported to this country from November 29, 2022. Besides, our country also has also signed agreements with Malaysia within the framework of ASEAN and ASEAN +.

"But with Malaysia's ratification of the CPTPP, Vietnam can take advantage of ASEAN's raw materials to produce goods for export to three markets where ASEAN has no FTA such as Canada, Mexico and Peru," said the representative of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department.

Kylie Nguyen