The Singaporean financial newspaper noted that one of the key drivers of trade growth in Southeast Asian countries is the increase in supply chain diversification strategies, as businesses seek to move their supply chains out of China to alternative locations.

Viet Nam has benefited in the past as a favored alternative for electronics manufacturing. The report forecast that such growth is likely to continue, with the country poised to maintain a 6.5 per cent compound annual trade volume growth rate from 2024 to 2029, up from 6.2 per cent between 2019 and 2024, told the newspaper

According to the Business Times, Southeast Asian countries are set for accelerated trade growth over the next five years.

The improvement in macroeconomic fundamentals in 2024 – including easing post-pandemic inflation and a rebound in trade growth following a modest decline in global trade volumes in 2023 – is expected to further accelerate global trade growth this year.

It forecast that global trade volumes are set to grow at a baseline compound annual rate of 3.1 per cent from 2024 to 2029.

By region, ASEAN is expected to witness the third-fastest growth in trade volume of 5 per cent by 2029, behind South and Central Asia at 5.6 per cent, and Sub-Saharan Africa at 5.3 per cent.

Viet Nam’s foreign trade reached an all-time high of US$786.29 billion in 2024, up 15.4 percent against the previous year. Of the figure, export turnover rose 14.3 percent year-on-year to US$405.53 billion while import value increased by 16.7 percent to US$380.76 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US$24.77 billion./.