Joyful notes of the spring
Although the world economy is still gloomy in the time of recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and is affected from the Russia- Ukraine military conflict, Vietnam’s economy has had many achievements, contributing to the GDP growth of over 6.5% in 2022. Import-export, foreign investments, industry production and services are bright colors of the painting. These sectors have contributed to the economic stability.
The goods trade balance in 2022 had a trade surplus of over USD 11 billion. In which, the U.S is Vietnam’s largest export market with the turnover of over USD 100 billion, an increase of 21.7% year-over-year, accounting for about 30% of the total export turnover of the country. Coming next is Chinese market with the export turnover of over USD 50 billion, an increase of 5.6% year-over year. Exports to the EU, ASEAN countries, Korea, and Japan all increased from 18% to 28%.
Last year, realized FDI capital continued to be positive, reaching over USD 25 billion in only 11 months, an equal to 95% of the same period in 2021. It was the highest ever and it reduced pressure on the national balance of payments of Vietnam’s economy in the short term, while helping to increase the new production capacity of the economy in the coming time.
Foreign investors have invested in 19 industries out of the total of 21 national economic sectors. In which, the processing and manufacturing industry leads the way with the total investment of over USD 14.96 billion USD, accounting for 60% of the total registered investment capital. There have been 107 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
The above results show that Vietnam’s economy has grown spectacularly, especially in the third and fourth quarters. That trend has been a sign that GDP will be maintained on track in 2023.
There have been good results in various fields and areas: enterprises have had rather strong recovery so that they can contribute to the economy.
Accordingly, activities of production and business have been positively recovered; agriculture productions are stable, ensuring production progress to serve consuming demands during Tet.
With the economic highlights in the last two quarters of the year, a number of international economic organizations and institutions believe Vietnam is a bright, typical image of successfully overcoming difficulties to be a fast growing economy in the top of the world.
From the perspective of agriculture there have been many good news too. For the first time, durians and passion fruits are officially exported to China; grapefruit is exported to the US. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2022, the export of agro-forestry-fishery products is estimated to reach over USD 50 billion.
Previously, in 11 months of 2022, the total import-export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products reached about USD 90.26 billion- an increase of 9.5% year-over-year: in which export was about USD 49.04 billion- an increase of 11.8%; import was about USD 41.22 billion- an increase of 6.9%. The trade surplus of agriculture, forestry and fishery reached USD 7.82 billion- an increase of 47.8%. Thus, the export value of agriculture, forestry and fishery in the first 11 months of 2022 has surpassed the record figure of 2021 USD- 48.6 billion.
The agriculture sector so far has 8 products/ product groups with the export value of over USD 2 billion, including coffee, rubber, rice, vegetables, cashew, shrimp, catfish and wood products.
Many items had higher export value than the same period last year, such as rubber coffee, rice, pepper, cassava, catfish, shrimp USD 4.1 billion – an increase of 14.6%), wood and wood products. .. of which, Asian markets accounted for 44.7% market share, America 27.4%, Europe 11.3%, Oceania 1.7% and Africa 1.7%. The United States continues to be the largest export market. The second largest is China and the third is Japan...
Recently, fresh pomelo has been the 7th fruit of our country allowed to be imported into the US market after mango, longan, litchi, dragon fruit, rambutan and star apple... This is the result from the long-term negotiation efforts of the specialized agencies between the two sides and the persistent companionship of the Vietnamese pomelo producers and exporters community.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Development, a protocol on durian export, temporary requirement for passion fruit to China and import requirements for pomelos exported to the US have been deloyed for relevant organizations and individuals in localities.
Challenges will soon pass
There are also low notes in a piece of music. In the fourth quarter, due to lacks of order, nearly 500 enterprises were forced to cut works or to have rotation work. The number of workers affected could be 630,000 workers. The layoffs and working hour reduction happened at labor- intensive enterprises in sectors of textiles, footwear, wood processing, aqua-products, electronic spare- part outsourcing. The reason is due to the fact that major markets such as the U.S, Europe and Japan’s consuming demand cuts, difficulties in raw materials and impacts from the world situation.
It is forecast employment situation in some enterprises may be affected until the end of the first quarter of 2023. The sectors most affected by the decrease in orders are wood processing, textiles, and footwear. There are also a few businesses in electronics, food, services, tourism and so on.
At this time in previous years, many textile and garment enterprises had to increase production shifts and recruit new workers to meet signed orders. However, this year, most of the new businesses signed orders to produce 50-60% of capacity at the year-end period. Many enterprises fell into a situation of order shortage and price-squeezing.
The economic downturn causes people to face financial difficulties and rethink consumption issues. On that basis, the sharing economy was born and developed strongly with many new forms. In the market, new forms of employment are gradually appearing, such as sharing economy, access economy, on-demand economy, cooperative economy, freelance economy... The outbreak of COVID-19 created “waves” of workers moving from urban to rural areas, from the formal to the informal sector, to participate in the remote service delivery system on the web and online applications.
In fact, sharing economy has been affirming its superiority in saving resources while minimizing transaction costs in economic activities, contributing to the increase efficiency and transparency of the economy.
Spring brings people close to nature. Hopefully, these challenges will be overcome soon. This is like the story of seafood exports in 2022, surpassing the record of USD 10 billion for the first time to reach over USD 11 billion.
Vietnam’s seafood exports in 2022 have fully recovered after the COVID-19 epidemic. Four markets (EU, US, China and Japan) accounted for 74% of Vietnam’s total seafood export turnover; in which, for the first time, export to the US market reached USD 2 billion. The UK has become the 7th largest market for Vietnam’s seafood export...
It can be seen Vietnam’s seafood exports to all markets have increased. This is a positive signal that in difficult times, seafood enterprises still find opportunities and overcome challenges.
This result has been achieved thanks to financial factors of the markets and impacts of prices on seafood export sales. Besides, it was because enterprises promptly grasp information from the markets and had appropriate responds at the right time.
In 2023, it is forecast the aqua-product industry can have many difficulties and challenges from the world situation: the China’s market cannot be opened soon by the end of this year. At the same time, many orders of aqua-product enterprises have been delayed until the end of the first quarter of 2023. The matter is they have to make good use of the time for better preparation of production activities, better financial matters, optimizing production costs and improving product quality for better recovery in the coming time.
And after all it is the time for Tet- a time for love and for family. A message from the spring to everyone.
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