This year’s export value is expected to reach more than US$61 billion, a 26% increase over last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

At a video conference in Hanoi on July 18 to discuss measures to promote exports and reduce the trade deficit in the second half of this year, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu said that the ministry will set up a joint team of customs, banking and financial sector to help businesses overcome difficulties in production and exports.

The ministry said the targets set for Vietnam’s staple exports in the second half of this year included US$6 billion from crude oil, US$5.3 billion from textiles and garments, US$2.2 billion from seafood and footwear, and US$1.6 billion from wood products.

In addition to measures to promote exports, the Government has allowed wholly-foreign invested businesses to build their own material supply areas to improve the competitiveness of exported products.

Deputy Minister Khu said the ministry is striving to keep the trade deficit below US$1 billion every month in the second half of this year to reach the target of reducing the import value this year to US$80.2 billion as required by the Government, US$4.8 billion lower than initially planned.

The trade deficit for the whole year is expected at US$20 billion, equivalent to about 30% of the export revenues.

According to Deputy Minister Khu, measures are being taken to stabilise the market and ensure the demand-supply balance of essential goods, and the ministry has also paid special attention to improving the quality of the work on price forecasting and warnings.

The ministry has also promoted the inspection of the quality of imported goods and is using technical barriers to limit the trade deficit. It has also worked out a roadmap to implement compulsory energy-saving labels on household commodities from January 2010. (VNA)