Malaysia will likely be Vietnam’s potential export market when the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is brought under control, experts shared the view at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 16.

Participants spent time providing updated information about the import trends of the Malaysian market. They introduced schemes aimed at assisting firms increase their exports after the epidemic, including a trade fair to showcase Vietnamese products and a 2021 conference connecting Malaysian buyers with Vietnamese enterprises.

According to the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, the city earned US$776.6 million from its exports to Malaysia last year, representing over 20% of the country’s overall export value to this market. It imported commodities worth approximately US$2 billion, accounting for about 27.3% of the country's total import value from the market.

As of 2016, Malaysia has gone on to surpass Singapore to become Vietnam’s second largest trading partner in ASEAN, behind only Thailand.

Last year, the total import-export value between the pair suffered a drop of 3.4% to US$11.122 billion compared to 2018’s figure, making up 19.3% of total Vietnamese trade value with ASEAN member countries.

Vietnamese exports to Malaysia were hit by a fall of 6.8% to nearly US$3.8 billion in comparison with 2018, representing 15% of the country's total export value to other ASEAN member states. Malaysia developed into the country’s third largest export market in ASEAN following Thailand and Cambodia.

Due to the severe impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnamese export value to Malaysia during the first half of this year suffered an annual fall of 17.4% to over US$1.6 billion.

With regard to rice commodity, Malaysia has consistently had a huge import demand among ASEAN member countries. Last year saw Vietnam surpass Thailand to become the largest rice supplier to the Malaysian market with a turnover of nearly $219 million, or 5.8% of total Vietnamese export value to Malaysia.