Dong Nai (VNS/VNA) - Although the world economy hasnot fully recovered from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and theongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, export turnover of southern DongNai province hit 19.3 billion USD in the first nine months of this year,surging 20.17% over the same period last year, according to data of the GeneralStatistics Office (GSO).

Meanwhile, the provincial index of industrial production (IIP)increased by more than 7.8% over the same period last year.

Although the index declined in the third quarter of 2022 comparedto the first two quarters of the year, businesses still believe that in thefourth quarter of this year, production will recover.


Sectors recording high export growth compared to the same periodlast year included footwear, iron and steel products, textile and garments, andmachinery, equipment, tools and spare parts.

The main export markets of Dong Nai are the US, Japan, China, theRepublic of Korea and some European countries.

A representative of the provincial Department of Industry andTrade said that from the middle of 2020 and through 2021, enterprises in DongNai were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing some companies tosuspend production which hurt export turnover.

Since the beginning of this year, as the pandemic was broughtunder control, businesses had quickly restored production and increased theirexports. This was an optimistic sign, reflecting that businesses were producinga larger amount of goods and had reconnected with customers in the worldmarket, the official said.

Despite achieving impressive growth, experts believe that exportbusinesses will face many difficulties such as global inflation, tighteningmonetary policy and a growing cost-of-living crisis in many of the country’sexport markets.

Nguyen Duy Hung, Vice President of the Dong Nai Import-ExportAssociation, said Vietnam was heavily dependent on imported raw materials andfuels.

The selling price of a US dollar at banks had increased by nearly5% against the Vietnamese dong this year to beyond 24,000 VND.

Manufacturing activity grew at a slower pace as rising rawmaterial costs and a worsening global outlook weighed on corporate sentiment.

While supply disruptions might have run their course, localexporters were also suffering from a slump in global demand as consumerstightened their spending due to high inflation.

The decline in demand from developed countries' markets, coupledwith other difficulties in shipping and raw material supply, would continue tohave adverse effects on exports.

Currently, Dong Nai's businesses were making efforts to find newmarkets and make up for the shortage of orders from traditional markets.

Recently, Dong Nai organised a trade fair with Australianenterprises in the sectors of handicrafts, apparel - footwear, agriculturalproducts and food.

So far, two enterprises from the province had signed contractswith Australian enterprises.

Besides the foreign market, businesses also needed to focus on thedomestic market, experts said.

In recent years, foreign-invested enterprises accounted for morethan 75% of the province’s export turnover, with the remainder belonging tonon-state and State-owned enterprises at 23% and 2%, respectively.

Key export items of non-state enterprises included textiles,footwear, wooden products, coffee and pepper.

Nguyen Thi Hoang, Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’sCommittee, said since the beginning of the year, the province had strengthenedtrade promotion to connect foreign enterprises in Dong Nai with domesticenterprises in the same field to cooperate and provide products for each other.

Many enterprises had found a source of domestic raw materials,which had reduced imports allowing Dong Nai's trade surplus to increase and itstrade deficit to decrease.

It was expected that in 2022, Dong Nai would have a trade surplusof more than 5 billion USD, which would be a new record of the province./.