Foreign trade revenue quadruples in decade of WTO membership
Vietnam’s import-export revenue has increased four-fold in the past decade after joining the WTO, the General Department of Customs reports.
According to the General Department of Customs, under the Ministry of Finance, the end of 2016 marked 10 years of Vietnam’s WTO membership.
Total import-export revenue reached over US$350.74 billion, four times higher than 2006's US$84.7 billion.
The revenue reached US$100 billion after the first year of joining WTO in 2007 and US$300 billion at the end of 2015.
Foreign trade growth reached 200% from 2007 to 2012. The growth rate was 150% from 2012 to 2015 and 116% from 2015 to 2016.
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| Vietnam’s import-export revenue has increased four-fold in 10 years |
The General Department of Customs said the growth rate proved that the local economy was very open and Vietnam had successfully exploited its advantages to boost businesses domestically and internationally.
According to the department, the rate of the openness of Vietnam market increased from 144% in 2007 to 173% in 2016.
From 2012, huge import surplus ceased to exist and Vietnam started to have export surplus in two years.
In 2015, Vietnam recorded a US$3.6 billion import surplus.
However, in the following year, it enjoyed a US$2.5 billion export surplus.
In 2016, it exported products to 28 markets and imported from 21 markets.
It had US$28 billion and US$1.78 billion of import surplus from China and Malaysia respectively.
On the other hand, the US and the Netherlands among other countries are Vietnam's biggest customers. It had US$29.75 billion export surplus to the US alone.
However, many key products have faced challenges and saw dwindling export volumes last year, such as coffee beans, crude oil and rice.
Electronic products, machinery and footwear helped boost revenues but depend on FDI firms.
The department said added value in the economy was still low and FDI firms were not engaged in transferring technology.
