Exports to EU to face several tough barriers

Vietnamese enterprises will face greater difficulty exporting products to the European market this year, due to stricter technical barriers as well as the Government's tightening monetary policies, said Dang Hoang Hai, Head of the European Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

While it was unlikely that exports to the EU this year would match last year's growth of 20 per cent, 10-per-cent export growth was within reach, Hai said.

Exports to the European market totalled US$15 billion last year, an increase of 21.4 per cent over the previous year, with key exports including footwear, apparel and seafood.

Exports had yet to reach the levels they had attained prior to the 2008 financial crisis, but they were growing steadily in light of the fact that European consumers were favouring less expensive goods during the economic recovery, Hai said.

Dong Nai Garment Joint Stock Company Deputy Director Vu Dinh Hai confirmed that his company's orders from the EU market had increased this year in both volume and value. However, he said, the EU currently accounted for only 30 per cent of the company's export market structure, noting that Dong Nai and other garment makers, such as Viettien Garment Company and Saigon 3 Garment Company, were more closely eyeing the Japanese market.

March 8^th, 2011

Source: vneconomynews.com