Da Nang’s export activities have maintained a continuous growth momentum year by year and the competitiveness of many key export commodity groups has been significantly improved, thus contributing to maintaining the supply chain and boosting production and business. Functional local agencies are on course in takig many solutions to promote the growth of fields in the coming time.

Production activities are seen at the Daiwa Vietnam Co., Ltd based in the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang - one of the enterprises with large export volume. Photo: KHANH HOA

Growth of main products maintained 

According to a recent report from the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, in the 2016 - 2019 period, the total export turnover of goods reached over US$6  billion, an average increase of 7.4% per year. In 2020 alone, this figure reached about over US$1.5 billion, down 3.7% as compared to 2019, and in 2021, it went up by 16.9% compared to 2020 to hit over US$1.8 billion.

Goods used as means of production accounted for more than 70% of the total export turnover, whilst consumer goods made up for about 25% and the rest are other goods.

In particular, key products maintained a stable average growth rate such as finished rubber products up by 29.6%, electrical equipment and electronic products up 6.4%, handicrafts and wood products up 9.1%, textiles up 5.9%, children's toys up 5.4% and frozen seafood down 0.4%.

The structure of export items has continued to shift towards an increase in the ratio of industrial goods for export and a reduction in the export proportion of agricultural and forestry products.

Specifically, in 2016, the group of industrial goods - handicrafts accounted for 86.7%, aquatic ones 12.7% and agro-forestry ones 0.6%, but in 2022, these commodity groups made up for 88%,11.5% and 0.5%, respectively.

Regarding the export market, Da Nang enterprises’ products have been exported to more than 120 countries and territories worldwide, in which the city’s large export markets have still maintained a stability such as Japan accounting for about 30-35%, the U.S. about 17-20%, EU about 15-16% and China about 8-10%.

The export value of FDI enterprises accounts for more than 50% of the total export turnover of goods of the city, but the production - export activities of these enterprises are mainly assembly and processing activities. Meanwhile, the city's goods production and export activities still depend largely on imported raw materials and auxiliary materials, so the added value is still low.

Out of the total 500 enterprises participating in exporting activities, only about 100 have regular import and export activities, accounting for a large proportion of the city's import-export turnover, of which there are more than 20 exporting enterprises with the total export value of more than US$10 million per year.

Production activities are observed at SEADANANG company specialising in seafood processing. Photo: KHANH HOA

Identifying key export products

Based on a comprehensive assessment of the city's export activities over the past time, in the 2022 - 2023 period, the city’s industry and trade industry will focus on implementing many solutions to develop products, expand foreign consumption markets and promote exports.

Heed will be paid to improving product quality, diversifying product models, improving the competitiveness of local exporters promoting the building of information and communication systems and raising local businesses’ awareness of trade preferences from free trade agreements (FTAs) and market forecasting

In the first quarter of 2022, the Da Nang Department of Industry and Trade invited businesses to participate in many activities. Included were online trade promotion conferences on business cooperation between Viet Nam and such foreign partners as Mexico and India, EU and Africa, consulting sessions on exporting products to the Korean and Turkish markets, a seminar on promoting public-private cooperation to maximise export opportunities for Vietnamese female entrepreneurs and the Ready to Export (R2E) programme in Da Nang.

At the end of March, 2022, the Da Nang Department of Industry and Trade made field trips to a number of large import and export enterprises to understand more about the real situation of production, business, import and export activities, difficulties and problems.

Also, the Department set up a zalo address for import-export enterprises in the city at  https://zalo.me/g/nvuvor384 to promptly inform businesses of relevant programmes, policies and regulations as well as support businesses to connect together and consume products between partners.

Heed will be on providing export and import enterprises with the most important and new regulations and trade information such as preferential tariffs under FTAs of which Viet Nam is a member, rules of origin for each item under the different FTAs, non-tariff measures applied to imports and exports, trade and customs-related laws and regulations.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Quang, the Director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Da Nang, said that, in the near future, an ‘Export Business Club’ will be established to support Vietnamese exporters for the sake of ther stronger growth.

Reporting by KHANH HOA – Translating by A.THU