Highest increase in 1 year; difficulties of wood industry have not "cooled down"

Vietnam is the number one pepper supplier to the United States; Vietnamese exports increase the most in a year... are the highlights in the export news on September 4-8.

Vietnam's pepper market share in total US imports remained stable at 79.1% in the first 6 months of 2023. (Source: Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper)

Vietnam is the number one pepper supplier to the United States.

The Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) cited statistics from the US International Trade Commission, saying that in the first 6 months of 2023, the US imported approximately 33.66 thousand tons of pepper, worth 155.63 million USD, down 25.7% in volume and 30.3% in value compared to the same period last year.

The average import price of pepper in the US in the first 6 months of 2023 reached 4,624 USD/ton, down 6.2% over the same period last year.

In particular, the average import price of pepper from the markets of Vietnam, India, Brazil decreased... but increased sharply from Indonesia and China.

In the first 6 months of 2023, the United States imported pepper mainly from the markets of Vietnam, India, Indonesia...

Of which, Vietnam is the largest pepper supplier to the United States in the first 6 months of 2023, with a volume of 26.62 thousand tons, worth 117.79 million USD, down 19% in volume and 26.6% in value over the same period last year.

Vietnam's pepper market share in total US imports remained stable at 79.1% in the first 6 months of 2023.

Similarly, the US reduced pepper imports from India in the first 6 months of 2023, down 16.6% in volume and 15.2% in value compared to the same period last year, reaching 2.88 thousand tons, worth 14.42 million USD.

India's share of pepper in total US imports increased from 7.28% in H1 2022 to 8.57% in H1 2023.

The difficulties of the wood industry have not yet "cooled down"

The Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) cited data from the General Department of Customs, saying that it is estimated that in August 2023, wood and wood product exports will reach 1.1 billion USD, down 1.9% compared to July 2023 and down 22.8% compared to August 2022.

Of which, wood product exports are estimated at 742 million USD, down 0.7% compared to July 2023 and down 17% compared to August 2022.

In the first 8 months of 2023, wood and wood product exports are estimated at 8.3 billion USD, down 25.9% over the same period in 2022.

Of which, wood product exports are estimated at 5.6 billion USD, down 28.4% over the same period in 2022.

Exported wood and wood products are facing unprecedented difficulties due to a shortage of orders, exhausted cash flow, trade barriers from the United States and the emergence of new barriers from the EU market...

Therefore, the ability to boost wood and wood product exports in the last months of the year will continue to face many difficulties.

Wooden furniture is the main export item of the wood industry in the first 7 months of 2023. However, due to the world economic situation continuing to face many difficulties and challenges, although inflation has cooled down, most major economies have low growth due to declining aggregate demand, tight monetary policy, more complicated military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, geopolitical instability, food security, natural disasters, climate change, etc. are increasing.

In addition, major economies that are Vietnam's export partners such as the US and EU have reduced spending on non-essential products, causing the volume of wooden furniture orders to decrease significantly. In the first 7 months of 2023, the export value of wooden furniture reached 4.3 billion USD, down 32% compared to the same period in 2022.

In addition to exported wooden furniture, in the first 7 months of 2023, some exported wood and wood products also decreased rapidly, such as: Wood chips reached 1.2 billion USD, down 18.4% over the same period in 2022; followed by wooden boards and flooring reached 955.7 million USD, down 23.6%; Wood pellets reached 380.1 million USD, down 7.9%; wooden doors reached 23.8 million USD, down 26.7%...

Vietnamese exports increase the most in 1 year

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in August, Vietnam's goods exports were estimated at 32.4 billion USD, up 7.7% over the previous month. This was also the month with the highest export turnover in the past year and marked the fourth consecutive month of growth.

The contribution to the growth of the processed industrial goods group continued to be the main driving force when reaching 27.7 billion USD, up 7.1% compared to the previous month. In particular, key products such as computers, electronic products and components increased, textiles, machinery, equipment, tools, spare parts, footwear, wood and wood products, phones of all kinds and components... all grew well.

Exports of agricultural and aquatic products in the month were estimated at 2.76 billion USD, up 6.5% over the previous month, mainly due to a sharp increase in exports of rice, pepper, tea, cassava and cassava products. In particular, the group of mineral fuels and crude oil grew the most.

In August, Vietnam's goods exports were estimated at 32.4 billion USD, up 7.7% over the previous month. (Source: Industry and Trade Newspaper)

The bright spot in goods exports in August was the domestic economic sector (up 8.7%) higher than the FDI sector (up 7.3%).

"This shows the efforts of domestic enterprises compared to the FDI sector, but on the other hand, it also shows the difficulties of enterprises in general, including FDI enterprises, which are considered to have a more stable market and supply chain," the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

In the first 8 months, total export value of goods is estimated at 227.7 billion USD, down 10% compared to the same period last year. Of which, 30 items achieved export value of over 1 billion USD.

Regarding the market, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the US is still Vietnam's largest export market, followed by China, Europe, South Korea, Japan...

On the other hand, goods imports are estimated at 207.52 billion USD, down 16.2% over the same period last year.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the context of the global economy still facing many uncertainties, in order to maintain export activities, the Ministry will continue to promote negotiations and sign new trade agreements and linkages; including completing the implementation of the FTA with Israel, signing trade agreements with other potential partners (UAE, South American market community...) to diversify markets, products, and supply chains.

Along with that, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with China to open more export markets for other Vietnamese fruit and vegetable products such as green-skin pomelo, fresh coconut, avocado, pineapple, star apple, lemon, melon... to promote the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products.

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