While Vietnam’s trade deficit with major economies is the result of large imports of inputs for production, the country’s trade gap with Thailand comes mainly from importing fruit and vegetables, many of which Vietnam can produce.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam posted a trade deficit of US$2.13 billion in the first eight months of 2017, as a result of rising imports of materials and machinery for production from China, the Republic of Korea and the United States. However, part of the trade deficit was contributed to by the import of fruit and vegetables that Vietnam could produce at home.
Take Thailand for example. For years, Vietnam has always run a trade deficit with its largest trading partner in ASEAN. In the eight months through August, Vietnam exported US$3.06 billion worth of goods to Thailand while importing US$6.5 billion. Thailand has now surpassed Japan to become the fourth largest exporter to Vietnam. Vietnam’s main imports from Thailand are consumer electronics, cars and car parts, petroleum products, chemicals, fruit and vegetables.
What is worrying is the fact that Vietnam is importing a massive amount of fruit and vegetables from Thailand, accounting for about 60% of Vietnam’s total fruit and vegetable imports, of which many could be produced domestically, said Le Quoc Phuong, deputy head of the MOIT’s Industry and Trade Information Centre.
He explained that compared with their Vietnamese counterparts, Thailand’s fruit and vegetables are better in quality and lower in prices. In addition, Thailand’s fruit and vegetables and Thai goods in general are bolstered by a strong retail network in Vietnam such as BigC and Metro, all of which are owned by Thai firms. In addition, Thai enterprises have held numerous trade fairs to promote Thai goods even to traditional markets, making Thai fruit and vegetables present in almost all markets near residential areas in Vietnam, Phuong added.
As Thai fruit and vegetables have quickly won Vietnamese consumers’ favour, Vietnamese enterprises have increased imports from this country with advantages in terms of geographical proximity, quality and prices.
Source: en.nhandan.org.vn
