The situation of the covid-19 epidemic is still very stressful, whether it can be controlled or not is considered an extremely important factor that affects the import-export and economic growth rate in the last months of the year. It is forecasted that in the second half of 2021 import and export of goods will face mixed advantages and challenges.

Opportunities

On July 24, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) officially issued the conclusion of an investigation case related to the issue of currency undervaluation. Accordingly, on the basis of satisfactory solutions that meet the objectives of the investigation as stated in the Agreement reached on July 19, 2021, between the US Department of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam, USTR will not issue any trade-restrictive measures for Vietnamese exports.

“This is good news because the United States is one of the largest markets for Vietnamese goods,” said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai.

Challenges

However, commenting on the challenges that the economy has been, is, and will be facing, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that import and export activities may be negatively affected in the near future as the Southeast Asian region would continue to be the focus of the COVID-19 epidemic given the number of new infections rapidly increasing in countries such as Indonesia or Thailand…

With regards to Vietnam’s main export products such as electronics, textiles, and footwear, it is a good sign that major markets like the US and Europe are in the recovery of consumer demand. Thanks to the shift of the global production chain after the epidemic, businesses stand a great chance of receiving new export orders. However, in the face of the current complicated epidemic situation in Vietnam, businesses have been trying to maintain production while facing the great risk that international customers can postpone or cancel orders to find new foreign partners from other countries. Until the epidemic is under control, it will be very difficult to strengthen business relationships.

In response to this situation, The Ministry of Industry and Trade claimed that in order to support domestic enterprises to produce and boost exports, it would deploy a series of solutions to promote exports and curb the trade deficit.