Seeking growth space amid headwinds
After achieving a record export value of 475 billion USD in 2025, up 17% year on year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has set a target of adding nearly 38 billion USD to export turnover in 2026.
However, the goal is widely seen as challenging amid mounting external pressures, including stricter technical barriers, reciprocal tariffs on goods exported to the US, and the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for selected industrial products. Against this backdrop, major export industries have proactively begun restructuring and adjusting strategies early in the year to seize market opportunities.
The textile and garment sector, which earned 46 billion USD in 2025, aims for 50 billion USD in 2026. According to industry associations, 2026 will continue to test the resilience of the global economy, with growth prospects and trade policies still affected by geopolitical uncertainties.
Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association, noted that the 50-billion-USD target is not a short-term ambition but the result of a multi-year restructuring process. The sector is focusing on strengthening domestic supply chains, raising localisation rates, and making more effective use of free trade agreements (FTAs) to improve the position of Vietnamese firms in global value chains.
For agriculture, 2026 is identified as a pivotal year, with export turnover expected to reach 73–74 billion USD, up nearly 4 billion USD from 2025. Key priorities include standardising raw material areas, expanding planting area codes, strictly applying GAP standards, strengthening traceability and food safety, and promoting deep processing and investment in preservation technologies.
According to Associate Professor Dr Nguyen Thuong Lang from the National Economics University, despite difficulties, Viet Nam still has room to boost exports, particularly in electronics, machinery and equipment, and agro-aquatic products.
In 2025, electronics remained the largest export, generating nearly 165 billion USD in revenue and playing a crucial role in helping Viet Nam maintain a trade surplus.
Nguyen Thu Oanh, head of the Services and Price Statistics Department under the Ministry of Finance’s National Statistics Office, said Viet Nam is increasingly becoming an important link in global supply chains. Signs of recovery in consumption and investment in major markets, combined with an extensive FTA network, are creating favourable conditions for market expansion and export diversification.
Expanding market horizons
Under Resolution No. 01/2026/NQ-CP, the Government targets GDP growth of over 10% in 2026, with exports continuing to serve as a key driver. Ministries and sectors are tasked with proactively responding to global economic fluctuations while renewing traditional growth engines.
Nguyen Anh Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Policies and Strategies, stressed the need to shift from price-based competition to strategies centred on branding, high standards, and products with greater technological content and value added, while further tapping FTA advantages and emerging markets.
With 17 FTAs signed with nearly 70 economies, Viet Nam now has access to a market of almost 6 billion consumers. According to MB Securities’ Viet Nam Outlook 2026 report, exports may grow by 15–16% in 2026, driven by market expansion and a shift towards higher-value products, led by electronics and high-tech industries amid rising global demand for AI and digital transformation.
