Vietnam-Australia trade ties projected to enjoy stronger growth

The Government leader departed Hanoi on March 4 to head to the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Australia dialogue relations and take part in official visits to Australia and New Zealand from March 5 to March 11.

Over recent years trade between the two countries has grown steadily thanks to free trade agreements (FTAs). 

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, last year’s two-way trade hit nearly US$14 billion with Vietnamese exports fetching US$5.2 billion.

In line with these figures, both nations were the 10th biggest trade partners of each other in the year, according to details given by the Asia-Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Most notably, Australia supplied important materials for a number of Vietnamese industrial and energy sectors such as coal, accounting for up to 45.77% of the nation’s total import of the material, and ores and minerals at 44.78%.

The first month of this year witnessed bilateral trade reach US$1.25 billion, up 43.4% on-year, said Nguyen Phu Hoa, head of the Vietnamese Trade Office in Australia.

Major Vietnamese export staples included phone products and components, machinery, electronic components, computers, crude oil, garment-textiles, footwear, and aquatic products.

Meanwhile, the country primarily imported coal, ores, cotton, wheat, metal and vegetables from Australia.

Hoa attributed these result to the two governments’ attention to the economic-trade ties, regarding them as crucial pillar in terms of bilateral relations and as key for the Plan of Action for the Strategic Partnership for the 2020 to 2023 period.

The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), to which both are signatories, have also played a role in the growing economic and trade ties.

Furthermore, for the first time the two countries have agreed on and released a plan to carry out the Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES) as announced by their Prime Ministers in November, 2021, with specific measures until 2025.

There is therefore a firm foundation for the Vietnamese side to be optimistic about the prospects for economic and trade ties with Australia as the two economies are reciprocal, Hoa affirmed.

According to Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of Vina T&T Group, his company and GAP Cu Lao Giang Cooperative shipped six tonnes of mango from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang to Australia in January.

Nguyen Nam Phuong Thao, deputy director of Hoang Phat Fruit Co., Ltd, said aside from traditional markets like China, her company has exported fresh fruits to other places, including Australia and New Zealand.

The MoIT’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE) said it has dispatched a delegation to Australia from March 1 to March 9, which is becoming involved in a wide range of trade and investment promotion activities in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

The Vietnamese Trade Office also pledged to help enterprises to fully tap into various advantages generated by these FTAs, advising Vietnamese firms to carefully study the market, local law, Australians’ taste, and take heed of both packaging and product quality.