Current status of Vietnam's goods exports to Germany
Current status of Vietnam's goods exports to Germany
Export turnover
For many years, Germany has maintained as one of the most important export partners of Vietnam in the EU market in particular and in the world in general. In 2020, Germany was the 2nd largest export market in the EU and 7th in the world of Vietnam. According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam's exports to Germany grew strongly in the period of 2010-2020 with export turnover nearly tripling, from USD 2.37 billion in 2010 to USD 6.64 billion in 2020 (Figure 2). The average growth rate of Vietnam's exports to Germany in the 2010-2020 period is 12.8%. However, compared with the average growth rate of Vietnam's exports to the world during this period of 21.8%, the growth rate of Vietnam's exports to Germany is still quite low.
In the EU region, Germany is Vietnam's largest export market, accounting for nearly 20% of Vietnam's export turnover to this bloc. This is partly due to the great purchasing power of the German market, and partly because Germany is the gateway for Vietnamese goods to other markets in Europe.
Figure: Vietnam's exports to Germany in the period of 2010-2020
Source: General Department of Vietnam Customs
For Vietnam, in terms of ranking, Germany was the 7th largest export market of Vietnam, but in terms of market share, exports to Germany only accounted for 2.4% of the total export turnover to the world of Vietnam in 2020. The main export partners accounting for large market shares in Vietnam’s export turnover are still the US, China, Japan, and South Korea.
For Germany, Vietnam ranked 23rd in the list of Germany's importing countries in 2020, and Germany’s import turnover of goods from Vietnam accounted for only 1% of the total import value of this country. The main reason is that Germany currently imports mostly from EU member states, China, the US, and Japan. Despite having a low share of Germany's total imports, Vietnam still held the 4th position among Asian countries (after China, Japan, and South Korea) that Germany imports the most in 2020.
Main export products and market share
The main export products of Vietnam to the German market (in 2020) were electrical/mechanical machinery, footwear, clothing, coffee, fruit, and furniture (see Table 8 for details).
Among the products mentioned above, Vietnam was in the top 5 largest exporters to Germany for 4/10 products. However, for each of these products, the import proportion of Vietnam is still relatively small in Germany’s total import from the world (only footwear and coffee account for a relative share of German imports).
Vietnam's main competitors for the above products in the German market are EU countries, Turkey, the US, China, and some other developing countries such as India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia.
Table: Top 10 products that Germany imported the most from Vietnam in 2020
|
No |
Vietnam’s Products |
Germany’s Import Value in 2020 (USD million ) |
The proportion in Germany's total imports of the product from the world |
Top 5 import countries of Germany for the product |
|
1 |
Chapter 85: Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles |
3,505.33 |
2.35% |
China, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, The US |
|
2 |
Chapter 64: Footwear, gaiters and the like; parts of such articles |
2,131.07 |
17.08% |
China, Vietnam, Italy, Indonesia, Netherlands |
|
3 |
Chapter 84: Machinery, mechanical appliances, nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof |
1,207.02 |
0.81% |
China, The US, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland |
|
4 |
Chapter 62: Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted |
922.50 |
5.08% |
China, Bangladesh, Turkey, Vietnam, Italy |
|
5 |
Chapter 61: Articles of apparel and clothing: accessories, knitted or crocheted |
572.05 |
3.02% |
China, Bangladesh, Turkey, Italy, Cambodia |
|
6 |
Chapter 09: Coffee, tea, maté and spices |
429.51 |
9.68% |
Brazil, Vietnam, Honduras, Italy, Switzerland |
|
7 |
Chapter 42: Articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silkworm gut) |
320.83 |
7.69% |
China, Italy, India, Vietnam, France |
|
8 |
Chapter 08: Edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruit or melons |
304.28 |
2.42% |
Spain, Italy, The US, Turkey, Netherlands |
|
9 |
Chapter 94: Furniture; bedding, mattresses, mattress supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishings; lamps and lighting fittings, not elsewhere specified or included; illuminated signs, illuminated nameplates and the like; prefabricated buildings |
274.94 |
1.31% |
China, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria |
|
10 |
Chapter 90: Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof |
247.15 |
0,58% |
The US, China, Switzerland, Japan, France |
Source: ITC Trademap, 2021
Source: "Business Handbook: Exploiting the EVFTA to import and export goods between Vietnam and Germany" - Center for WTO and International Trade
