Vietnam-China trade cooperation is bustling

Vietnam-China trade cooperation continues to be a highlight in bilateral relations. China continues to be Vietnam's largest trading partner, largest import market and second largest export market.

Vietnam's commodity exports have many opportunities to penetrate deeply into the billion-people market. (Source: VnEconomy)

Top trading partner

The Asia-Africa Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that despite the difficult developments of the global economy, trade, and geopolitical conflicts, two-way trade between Vietnam and China is recovering impressively.

In the first 5 months of 2024, Vietnam's import-export turnover with China reached 77.5 billion USD, up 25.4% over the same period in 2023. Of which, exports were 22.64 billion USD, up 10.2%, imports from China reached 54.85 billion USD, up 33.1% over the same period. Vietnam's trade balance had a trade deficit of 32.2 billion USD.

The import-export results in the first 5 months have clearly improved, because the whole previous year, two-way trade between Vietnam and China decreased by 2.6% compared to 2022, reaching 171.9 billion USD. Accordingly, exports to China reached 61.2 billion USD, up 5.6%, imports from China reached 110.6 billion USD, down 6.6%; trade deficit was at 49.4 billion USD, down 18.4%.

Leading the export turnover to the billion-people market in the first 5 months of 2024 was the group of computers, electronic products and components, reaching more than 4.7 billion USD, up 3.01% over the same period last year, accounting for 21% of the export proportion; followed by the group of phones of all kinds and components, reaching more than 4.6 billion USD, accounting for 20.7% of the export proportion.

Commodity groups with export turnover growth in the first 5 months of 2024 compared to the same period last year also include: Fruits and vegetables increased by 32.9%; cameras, camcorders and components increased by 96.2%; chemicals increased by 88.3%; cashew nuts increased by 45.6%; coffee increased by 52.9%; ores and other minerals increased by 250.8%.

Bilateral trade between the two countries still has much room for growth, based on many bilateral cooperation agreements, as well as multilateral trade agreements such as the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Currently, China is promoting its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)...

The Vietnam Trade Office in Beijing (China) said that the world's second largest economy is showing very positive signs of recovery. China has issued many policies on import and export management, in which if goods meet standards, it will create favorable conditions for export to this market.

In particular, Vietnam-China trade cooperation has been maintained stably, and is expected to achieve good results compared to the general level of China's trade relations with most major trading partners in the world.

Vietnam's goods exports have many opportunities to penetrate deeply into the billion-people market, because, in the context of high shipping costs, many Chinese enterprises have been looking for import sources in neighboring regions, replacing European enterprises.

China - an important "customer" of Vietnamese agricultural products

The products that Chinese enterprises have been interested in recently are the group of processed and manufactured industrial products, agricultural and aquatic products, especially China continues to increase the import of tropical agricultural products... Exports are constantly expanding and China has become one of the most important "customers" for Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and aquatic products.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of December 2023, Vietnam has 16 plant products being exported to China including: bananas, durian, mangosteen, black jelly, rice bran, rice, sweet potatoes, watermelon, dragon fruit, mango, jackfruit, longan, lychee, rambutan, chili, passion fruit.

Durian is one of the Vietnamese agricultural products that is especially popular in the Chinese market. (Source: Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper)

In particular, in the livestock sector, after 5 years of negotiations, the first batches of Vietnamese bird's nest products have been officially exported to the Chinese market. This event marks a milestone opening up opportunities for one of the highly valuable products of the Vietnamese livestock industry to enter the billion-people market.

According to experts, in 2024, China will continue to be a potential market and there will be many opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products to increase market share and export value because the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the General Administration of Customs of China have just agreed to complete and supplement some contents in the 3 Protocols on the export of naturally exploited aquatic products, the export of farmed crocodiles and the export of farmed monkeys from Vietnam.

In addition, China also agreed to open its market and speed up the completion of import procedures for Vietnam’s key fruits, including avocado and passion fruit. This can be considered good news for farmers growing these agricultural products in the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta.

Regarding the livestock sector, the General Administration of Customs of China also agreed to consider the dossier for Vietnam to export poultry products to the Chinese market. In addition, to strengthen cooperation between quarantine units in the border area, after the Lunar New Year, the two sides will organize a meeting between functional forces along the border so that the units can increase exchanges, learn from experiences and resolve problems arising in the process of implementing tasks at the border gate.

To promote the expansion of agricultural exports to the Chinese market, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan emphasized that with the Chinese market, we need to do better "because if you respect us, we must also respect you. If you have opened your door, we must also 'open our hearts', we must seize the opportunity to connect with the Chinese market".

Earlier this year, a working delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development led by Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam achieved many positive results in promoting market opening for agricultural, forestry and fishery products. According to Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam, the Chinese side has basically agreed to create conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to access the large wholesale market in Guangdong province, even reserving a space for display.

In the coming time, localities will focus on directing the development of sources of quality, safe agricultural products and food that meet the standards required by the other side. Along with that, businesses will coordinate to build logistics chains to circulate goods regularly and quickly, reducing costs before reaching consumers.

In recent times, the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other ministries and sectors have made efforts to negotiate the opening of the Chinese market for Vietnamese goods. In 2023, the Prime Minister made two working trips to China and each time proposed that China open its market for Vietnamese agricultural products with four groups of products: frozen durian, chili, watermelon, and medicinal herbs.

In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with its key role in negotiating and promoting trade to expand the market for Vietnamese goods, has implemented many solutions to boost trade promotion into this market.

On June 24, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation left Hanoi to attend the 15th Pioneers Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China (WEF Dalian 2024) and work in China from June 24 to 27, 2024 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab.

The 2024 WEF Dalian Conference, taking place from June 25-27 with the theme "New Growth Horizons", is the second largest in scale after the WEF Davos Conference with the participation of 1,600 delegates. It is organized with the spirit of being a place to converge and create new ideas, new fields, pioneering and innovative models that will shape future economic sectors.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/soi-dong-hop-tac-thuong-mai-viet-nam-trung-quoc-276032.html