Hưng Yên Province has exported many consignments of longan to the EU. Việt Nam hopes to take advantage of its free trade agreement to boost exports to the EU this year.—VNA/VNS Photo

The European - American Market Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade is confident exports will boom this year.

The free trade agreements (FTAs) with Europe and America would continue to have a positive impact, enabling Việt Nam to sustain its advantages in trade and investment, it said.

Meanwhile, demand in the global market, including Europe and America, is gradually recovering because inflation had begun to subside since the end of 2023.

The rate was likely to fall to targeted levels, including the 2 per cent set by the European and US central banks.

Besides, developed countries continue to promote diversification of supply chains and investment sources, which helped Việt Nam become important to the global value chain.

They also promoted the green and circular economies and digital transformation, opening up many new cooperation opportunities and promising financial and technology support to Việt Nam.

But Vietnamese trade will face many challenges this year due to the unpredictable global scenario.

Global economic growth is forecast to fall.

Geopolitical conflicts persist and protectionist policies are increasing.

Developed countries claim to be paying more attention to sustainable development, the fight against climate change and consumer safety, giving them the justification to set stricter standards related to supply chains, raw materials and labour for imports.

Countries are diversifying supply chains away from China, focusing on a number of its neighbouring and rival countries such as Turkey, Mexico, India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

This also means more competition for Việt Nam's exports.

So the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to undertake trade promotions and closely monitor the market situation and economic, political and policy changes around the world that could affect Việt Nam’s trade to issue warnings to the business community and make appropriate policy responses. 

It plans to regularly update information on major import-export markets and make assessments of opportunities and challenges for businesses to develop appropriate strategies and plans.

It plans to coordinate with relevant parties, businesses, businesses associations, and localities to arrive at market development strategies for the US, EU, Latin America, and the Commonwealth of Independent States for the period until 2030.

It will focus on solutions for each market and industry, including by raising increase awareness of new approaches to the circular economy, sustainable production and consumption, to change the thinking of businesses and encourage the use of technology and renewable energy.

It will seek to mitigate the limitations Vietnamese businesses have with respect to market information and self-sufficiency in the supply of raw materials, production capacity and building brands.

It will coordinate with the country’s trade offices abroad to help businesses exploit export markets, take advantage of FTAs, mitigate their difficulties, and protect their legal rights.

In 2023 Việt Nam’s trade with Europe and the US witnessed a significant decrease.

Việt Nam’s trade with Europe and the US last year was worth US$208 billion, down 9.5 per cent from 2022, Công thương (Industry and Trade) newspaper reported.

Of this, the exports stood at $166 billion, down 9.6 per cent, and imports, $41 billion, down 9.1 per cent.

Việt Nam's trade surplus was $33 billion with Europe and $92 billion with the Americas.

The department said the decline was partly caused by the direct impacts of the global economic downturn in the first half of 2023 and the slow and uneven economic recovery in the second half. — VNS