280 TRILLION VND FOR IMPORTING GOODS FROM CHINA
VCN- According to the latest information of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, by the end of the first quarter of 2017, the total value of imports from China reached nearly $US 12.7 billion, equivalent to about 280 trillion vnd, an increase of 19.5% compared to the same period in 2016.
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| 280 trillion vnd for importing goods from China. |
The uptrend
This is a very notable news, as imports from China appear to be slow in 2016 after years of strong gains. In 2016, Vietnam even spent $US 49.929 billion to import goods from China, but this figure only increased by $US 431 million compared to 2015.
However, in the first 3 months of 2017, imports from China have shown signs of recovery.
The latest statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that in March 2017, Vietnam spent $US 5.072 billion importing goods from China. The turnover of imports this month from China was even much bigger than the total turnover of imports from Japan – the third largest market in our country in the first quarter of 2017 (in the first quarter of 2017, Vietnam only imported goods from Japan with a turnover of $US 3.709 billion).
Only in the first quarter of 2017, there were 5 commodity groups of imports from China with a turnover of $US 1 billion or more. The leading commodity group included machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts with a turnover of $US 2.526 billion, followed by telephone and accessories with a turnover of $US 1.609 billion; computers, electronic products and components with a turnover of $US 1.582 billion; fabrics with a turnover of $US 1.197 billion; and iron and steel with a turnover of $US 1.176 billion.
Notably, out of the 5 commodity groups of imports with a turnover of “billions of dollars” from China mentioned above, there were 4 commodity groups of imports from China maintaining the leading position in the Vietnamese market (except for imported computers and electronic products from Korea at No. 1).
In particular, imported telephone and accessories from China accounted for nearly 55% of the total import turnover of Vietnam; imported fabrics from China accounted for 51% of the total import turnover of Vietnam; imported iron and steel from China accounted for nearly 50% of the total import turnover of Vietnam; imported machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts accounted for 31.3% of the total import turnover of Vietnam.
With a total import turnover of nearly $US 12.7 billion in the first quarter of 2017, imports from China accounted for 27.3% of the total import turnover of Vietnam at the same time.
China takes advantage of opportunities
Regarding an increase in imports from China, on 17th April 2017, a reporter of the Customs Newspaper exchanged with Assoc. Prof. Pham Tat Thang – the senior researcher (the Ministry of Industry and Trade) who knows very clearly about foreign trade relations between Vietnam and China.
Assoc. Prof. Pham Tat Thang said that the problem of imports and trade deficit from China had existed for many years with controversial analysis. But in fact, import activities and trade deficit from China are still rising and there is no sign of stopping.
Regarding this issue, Assoc. Prof. Pham Tat Thang said that there were 2 main reasons.
The first reason is that China has taken advantage of opportunities from the ASEAN – China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Vietnam-China Border Trade Agreement.
The second reason is that there has been an increase in imports from China with a large number of investment projects in Vietnam implemented by Chinese contractors. Through these projects, Chinese contractors imported a large amount of machinery, materials, and equipment from China to produce in Vietnam.
“Therefore, if there is no breakthrough in management solution, especially the management of investment projects, the control of import activities and the trade deficit from China will be very difficult”, Assoc. Prof. Pham Tat Thang said.
In addition to analyzing the causes of massive imports from China, which led to a large trade deficit, Mr. Pham Tat Thang also said that Vietnamese authorities should have solutions for these problems and further promote Vietnam’s exports to China.
Assoc. Prof. Pham Tat Thang stated: In fact, Vietnamese goods have not penetrated into the Chinese market and have not been able to access large distribution channels through the main roads. The export activities mainly occur through cross-border trade, which is regulated by China. For example, from early 2017 to date, China has restricted imports through Quang Ninh, Lang Son and changed to promote import-export through Lao Cai, Cao Bang and we have to depend on China. Therefore, this weakness should be solved soon.
By Thai Binh/ Hoang Anh
Source: http://customsnews.vn/