Vietnam earns US$61.3 billion from phone, computer exports

Statistics from the General Department of Customs showed that the export value of phones made up $38.95 billion, up nearly $9.1 billion, while computers and electronics parts represented $22.35 billion, rising by $6.2 billion.
However, the department said that the growth of the export items was signing to slow down. Specifically, the export turnover of phones slid 23 percent or $645 million against the second half of October while computers and electronic parts declined 9.2 percent or $130 million.
Vietnam’s phones, computers and electronic products have been exported to over 50 countries in the world, some of them are the EU, the US, South Korea and Japan.

The export value of phones increased by nearly $9.1 billion to $38.95 billion till mid November.

The electronics industry in recent years has continuously developed, becoming a key of the export sector, making an important contribution to the export’s achievement of the whole country. The Vietnam's electronic industry marked an important turning point since 2013 when it surpassed Vietnam's textile and garment industry for the first time and has held the No. 1 position.
However, according to experts, despite being the leading of the export industries, the electronic industry – high technology of Vietnam is still struggling in the processing stages and the profit is mainly falling into the hands of foreign investors.
Vietnam takes part mainly in processing and assembly for foreign companies so that the value added of Vietnam electronics industry is not high compared to other countries in the region and the majority of profit belongs to FDI enterprises, especially the domestic enterprises are more difficult to participate in this field.
Truong Thi Chi Binh, vice president and general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Supporting Industries (VASI), said that if we look carefully at the analysis of import data for many years, we will see the import value of electronic components is extremely big. The localization rate of domestic electronics enterprises is only 12 percent, the rest is 88 percent imported from abroad, imported from high-end components to mechanical parts, plastic, and rubber.
Besides, the fourth industrial revolution is considered as a chance for the export industries such as textile, footwear and electronic accessories. However, this opportunity is only possible as local enterprises apply advanced science and technology to improve the productivity and quality. Meanwhile, this is the weakness of domestic enterprises.
To develop the electronics industry, experts suggested that it is indispensable to take policies to develop supporting industries.