Accoridng to statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs (Ministry of Finance), foreign trade value of Vietnam as well as the scale of the economy has significantly improved. Specifically, on December 01, 2007, trade value had reached 100 billion USD for the first time, while the scale of the economy is 77.4 billion USD. Four years later, until December 24, 2011, trade value of Vietnam reached 200 billion USD and the scale of economy was 133 billion USD. At present, after 6 years, this number has reached 400 billion USD and the scale of the economy reached 200 billion USD.
In particular, the statistics number also recorded the a rapid growth of trade value since 2015 (from 300 billion USD) to gain more than 100 billion USD, reaching the milestone of 400 billion USD in 2 years – the period when many signed free trade agreements (FTAs) between Vietnam and Korea, ASEAN, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Eurasian Customs Union (EACU) came into effect.
As such, after 10 years from 2007 to 2017, Vietnam’s trade value has increased 4 fold. These are important results, showing the determination of the government in global economic integration in the past 20 years. According to Dr. Tran Du Lich, after Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007, the country has been active and determined in signing bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, showing the determination and efforts in integrating with the regional and global economy exentisvely. Results achieved in foreign trade and foreign investment since joining WTO showed a strong institutional reform of Vietnam, thus creating conditions for the country to enhance the national competitiveness.
2016 is the first year Vietnam experienced the export of fruits and vegetables reached 2.45 billion USD, exceeding the crude oil export of 2.4 billion USD and rice of 2.16 billion USD. In the first 9 months of 2017, Vietnam’s export of fruits and vegetables reached 2.62 billion USD, which is higher than crude oil export of 2.2 billion USD and rice of 2.04 billion USD.
As such, fruits and vegetables are becoming an advantage of Vietnam’s export in international markets. It is estimated that in 2018, Vietnam’s export of fruits and vegetables will exceed the highest recorded value of rice export of 3.67 billion USD in 2012, and before 2025 will reach 10 billion USD per year, which is equivalent to the highest recorded value of crude oil export of 10.4 billion USD in 2008.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Vietnam in the last 5 years also contributed significantly for export value to reach 60 billion USD with smart phones, computers and electronic components. Samsung Vietnam is one of the leading example for the FDI sector, which contributed a major part in Vietnam’s trade value and economic growth, taking the country gradually to join the global value chain in recent years. Samsung will also increase the number of Vietnamese enterprises to take part in its supply chain to 29 tier 1 vendors by the end of this year. After 3 years, the number is expected to rise to 50 enterprises.
