Low value adds, poor quality of exports and heavy dependence on raw
material imports along with poor processing facilities and
transportation were affecting the country’s export quality and
efficiency.
Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, senior technical consultant at
Export Potential Assessment (EPA), told a conference in Hanoi on July 30
that limited understanding about foreign markets and international
trade issues and inadequate market information, poor supply chain and
sector linkages as well as outdated production and processing
technologies for export products are also problems plaguing the
country’s exports.
EPA is the first major activity of the
four-year “Decentralised Trade Support Services for Strengthening the
International Competitiveness of Vietnamese Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises” programme, being implemented nationally by the Trade
Promotion Agency.
In order to deal with these issues, Hang
emphasised on the importance of promoting the implementation of the
State’s preferential policies in support industries to solve input
material shortages.
Besides, to enhance linkages in supply chains
to reduce cost, improving product quality and competitiveness of
exports, diversifying export markets and accelerating trade promotion
were also necessary, she said.
She added that improving the
capacity of domestic enterprises in negotiating, contracting and getting
international transactions reduced should be also included.
On
his speech at the event, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang
Hai said Vietnam was attempting to increase exports of high-value goods
while reducing shipments of raw materials abroad.
The country was
also fostering its negotiations of Free Trade Agreements with foreign
countries to expand export outlets, he said.
In the future, it
was necessary to identify and assess products and services which had an
export potential and then focus on accelerating exports of these goods,
he noted.
According to a report which was also released at the
July 30 conference, the items with high export potentials in the short
to medium terms were coffee, rubber and cassava along with pepper,
garments and leather shoes. Seafood such as tuna and shrimp were also on
the list. Electronics, textiles and garment, and wooden goods apart
from bamboo and rattan products, were also items with high export
potential. Tourism and labour were items on the list.-VNA