For many years now, Dong Nai has always been in the top 10 leading provinces and cities in the country in terms of exports. In the future, when newly established industrial zones complete their infrastructure, attracting many businesses to invest, the province’s export turnover will continue to increase.
| Producing automobile components for export at Action Composites Hightech Industries Co., Ltd. in Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Park, phase 2 (Nhon Trach district). Photo:K.Minh |
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the province’s export turnover always maintained a good growth rate. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the global economic recession has caused Dong Nai’s exports to be affected and fluctuate greatly. For example, in 2020, export turnover reached more than 18.73 billion USD; in 2021 nearly 21.2 billion USD; in 2022 it will be about 24.6 billion USD, but in 2023 it will only reach 21.63 billion USD.
Export is an important economic indicator
In Dong Nai, export is one of five important economic indicators, having a great impact on the development of the locality as well as the whole country. Because the province attracts large domestic and foreign investment capital, more than 70% of the goods produced are exported to countries and territories around the world. Therefore, reduced export turnover will affect a series of other fields such as: industrial production, employment for workers, state budget revenue, trade in services, transportation…
According to Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Pham Van Cuong, recently, due to the impact of the global economic recession, conflicts in some parts of the world have caused Dong Nai’s exports to face many difficulties. In particular, in 2023, many businesses lack production orders, leading to a sharp decrease in export turnover. Faced with the above situation, the province has carried out many trade promotions domestically and abroad to help businesses find more partners and expand product consumption markets. Therefore, from the beginning of 2024, Dong Nai’s exports have shown signs of recovery in a gradually better direction.
Up to now, Dong Nai has had more than 10 years of trade surplus. In 2014, the first year the province had a trade surplus of more than 500 million USD, by 2022 the trade surplus had increased to 5.7 billion USD. In 2023, although total export turnover will decrease, the trade surplus will reach 5.93 billion USD. In the first quarter of 2024, Dong Nai had a trade surplus of about 1.62 billion USD.
In the three years 2020, 2021 and 2022, Dong Nai is one of the provinces and cities most heavily affected by the epidemic, but businesses, authorities and people still strive to overcome it and ensure production. Although export turnover in recent years has fluctuated, Dong Nai still maintains a trade surplus that increases each year. This is consistent with the orientation of the province and the Government to gradually increase the rate of product localization to reduce imports. For many years, Dong Nai’s export turnover has accounted for 6-8% of the country’s total export turnover. At the same time, the province always ranks 6th or 7th among the provinces and cities with the largest export turnover in Vietnam.
Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang said that Dong Nai always accompanies businesses to grasp problems, promptly solve them, and help businesses operate effectively. In addition, the province organizes many domestic and foreign markets with great potential so that businesses have the opportunity to connect and open new export markets, avoiding dependence on a few large markets. Thus, when there are fluctuations in the world market, businesses will not have too much difficulty finding orders for production and export.
Expectations for exports
In 2023, Dong Nai’s exports will have negative growth due to a lack of orders from businesses. However, from the beginning of the year until now, exports have seen many improvements. Specifically, in the first quarter of 2024, the province’s export turnover reached nearly 5.3 billion USD, up nearly 8% over the same period last year. The province’s major export products are: footwear; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; Transport vehicles and spare parts; Wooden products… all had good growth compared to the same period last year.
In 2024, the province has set a plan to increase exports by 8% compared to 2023. To achieve the plan, businesses must be more flexible and dynamic in finding new orders. The good news for Dong Nai is that there are currently businesses receiving orders from foreign partners until the end of 2024 and early 2025.
General Director of Lixil Vietnam Global Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (in Long Duc Industrial Park, Long Thanh district) Maeda Atsushi said that the export market is gradually recovering better than at the beginning of 2023. In addition to the markets As a traditional exporter, Lixil expands exports to new markets, so orders are also more abundant.
Some economic experts believe that in 2024, exports will still have many fluctuations mixed with opportunities and challenges. In particular, businesses will face challenges: the economies of the United States, Japan, and China are forecast to grow lower than in 2023, conflicts in the Red Sea, tensions between Russia and Ukraine that have not yet ended, and the trade war. Trade between major countries continues, inflation… However, Vietnam is a highly open economy, currently signing 16 free trade agreements (FTAs) that have come into effect. Partners that have signed FTAs with Vietnam account for about 90% of global GDP. This will be an advantage for Dong Nai enterprises to increase exports to markets that have signed FTAs to enjoy preferential tariffs and increase competitiveness.
Vietnam Trade Counselor in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Truong Xuan Trung said that every year the UAE imports 50 billion USD of goods from other countries. This is a large market with a lot of potential for businesses to exploit and expand exports. The products the UAE is importing a lot are meat products, processed agricultural products, honey, milk, essential oils… However, this is a market with 90% of Muslim people so they want to export goods to the UAE. Enterprises must have HALAL certification.
Currently, Dong Nai has exported to more than 170 countries and territories, but nearly 50% of export turnover is in major markets such as the United States, Japan, China, and Korea. Although the European region has an FTA between Vietnam and the European Union, Dong Nai’s goods are mainly exported to Belgium, Germany, France, and Italy, while the quantity of 23 other countries is very small. Similarly, with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, there are 11 member countries (including Vietnam), but currently Dong Nai enterprises mainly export goods to Japan.
Dong Nai’s goods have entered markets requiring high quality such as the United States, Japan, Germany, Belgium, and Italy, and can easily enter other markets. Therefore, the opportunity for Dong Nai enterprises to find more export markets is still very large.
Khanh Minh
