Vietnamese exports were projected to obtain the growth rate of 8 percent during 2019 with the estimated total turnover of US$263 billion, enabling the country to enjoy its fourth consecutive year of trade surplus worth more than US$9 billion.

Analysts said these figures are quite impressive amid unfavourable developments of the global economy, including decreased trading transactions and investments as well as the increasing protectionism of importing countries.

Exports remained a bright spot of the Vietnamese economy during 2019. The export growth seen in 2019 met the annual target set by the National Assembly while the country earned a trade surplus of US$9.11 billion during the first 11 months of the year. The overseas shipments of the domestic economic sector contributed over 30 per cent to the total export turnover.

Senior trade expert Pham Tat Thang attributed the export growth to positive impacts from institutional reforms, the elimination of various business conditions and customs clearance procedures, and the trading facilitation for domestic private manufacturers.

The Vietnamese economy now has a very high level of openness and exports act as a key pillar of the economic growth. The continued export growth and trade surplus in 2019 is deemed as good proof of the efficient exploitation of export opportunities.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, the export growth was greatly contributed by enterprises actively promoting export activities during the year.

Enterprises proactively took over new trade promotion measures, notably the exploitation of e-commerce platforms. More than 50 percent of the domestic businesses supported by regulators successfully made the cross-border sale of their products to the US market via not only Amazon but also direct channels.

The export growth was also thanks to the efforts of domestic enterprises to improve their competitiveness and production capacity, deputy minister Hai stressed.

The country still maintained regular overseas shipments to traditional markets during 2019, including the US, EU, China, ASEAN member states, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

In the meantime, exporters spared no effort to seek new business opportunities emerging from the countries which Vietnam has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with, especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade affirmed that the structure of export goods saw positive changes during 2019 with reduced crude exports yet increased processed products, thus enabling Vietnam to make deeper penetration into the global production and supply chain.

Vietnam has to date had 32 good categories with their export reaching over US$1 billion, eight export items worth US$5 billion each, and five export items over US$10 billion each.

During the year, the ministry made continued attempts to review and handle legal obstacles facing enterprises and increasingly implemented measures aimed to intensify administrative reforms. As a result, an array of administrative procedures were handled via the internet and connected to the national one-stop shop system, thus cutting down costs and time for exporters.