Phone sales speed up export growth

Phones and components accounted for 21 percent of Vietnam’s export value in the first 10 months of 2017

In the first quarter of this year, phone and component exports dropped US$888 million in value compared to the same time last year due to Samsung Vietnam’s Samsung Note 7 battery explosion incident in late 2016. Phan Van Chinh, Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Import-Export Department, said this incident resulted in export growth of only 15.1 percent instead of 19 percent.

Samsung Vietnam’s exports began to recover and grow again in the second quarter of the year, contributing significantly to phone and component exports in particular and the country’s exports in general.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, phone and component exports yielded about US$5 billion in October 2017 (up 76.4 percent from October 2016), taking the total to US$36.5 billion in the first 10 months of 2017, up US$8.18 billion or 28.8 percent from the same period of last year. They accounted for 21 percent of the country’s total (US$173.7 billion) and in October became the country’s biggest export segment. They have been exported to Europe, the US, the United Arab Emirates, ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK), and helped the country avoid a trade deficit and reach a trade surplus of US$1.23 billion in the first 10 months of 2017.

Duong Phuong Thao, Deputy Director the Export-Import Department, said computer, electronics and component exports continued to grow rapidly thanks to the Samsung Display project that increased capital early this year and has recently exported its first products. These exports are expected to further grow and reach more than US$40 billion in 2017, far exceeding the 2016 results (US$34.32 billion).