International Trade

From a historical standpoint, Vietnam had always been an agricultural nation that relied entirely on wet-rice cultivation for centuries until the Vietnam War destroyed their economy. When the new government took over in April of 1975, they launched their "planned economy." This gave rise to the implementation of collectives involving economic capital, factories, and farms, which resulted in the employment of millions of people in government programs.

For over a decade, corruption and inefficiencies of state programs, poor quality of goods, and underproduction as well as restrictions on a wide array of economic activities wreaked havoc on Vietnam's economy. Additionally, the economy suffered at the hands of American and European embargoes following the war. After 1986 and the fall of the Communist Bloc, significant economic reforms helped Vietnam renovate the economy, and in the 1990's, Vietnam was experiencing an annual GDP growth of 8%.

Prominent Import/Export Aspects

Most countries have products present in their economies that were manufactured in Vietnam. Along with Vietnam's expansion into other export markets, there are numerous factors that equate to how exports have accelerated with this Southeast Asian market. There are 4 key aspects attributed to the global growth of Vietnamese imports and exports:

* Since the renovation process, (or "doi moi" as it is referred to) went into effect over a decade ago, Vietnamese export expansion has continually increased into other countries and territories. The biggest reason behind the amount of exports growing with the US was the lifting of the embargo in 1995.

* There are currently 200 countries that import a wide array of products from Vietnam, 28 of which have an annual import turnover rate in excess of $100 million, another 16 of them exceed $500 million, and 7 import over $1 billion in product with the United States on top of that list.

* Several of these markets could import significantly more product from Vietnam such as the former Communist Bloc nations, as well as several new markets - Africa, Australia, and Latin America for example.

* Of those 200 countries that have established a trade relationship with Vietnam, there has been an ongoing trade surplus with 159 of them, inclusive of Australia, Belgium, Germany, the Philippines, the UK, and the US. Conversely, there are 47 that Vietnam has always had an ongoing deficit with. China, Hong Kong, India, Kuwait, Switzerland, and Thailand are the main ones where deficits are concerned.

Steven D is a prolific writer and Managing Director at Singapore Dovalize Pte. Ltd. He is currently promoting business in Vietnam and to know more about it, check out
Vietnam business, exports and import.