Vietnam export revenue to South America grows 40 pct per year

Footwear is among Vietnamese main export products to South America

The seminar on trade promotion to the South American market aimed to assist Vietnamese enterprises in updating information and policies related to doing business with several countries in the South America region.

Linh noted that many Vietnamese products are very popular in South America as they are affordable and exported at a competitive rate. Vietnamese main export products to South America include footwear, seafood, rice, garments and textiles, coffee, plastic products, and electronics components.

Meanwhile, key goods that Vietnam imports from the region include garment materials, leather, paper, scrap, cattle-feed, soybeans, cotton, and others.

With a total population of more than 600 million and a total GDP of over US$6 trillion, South America is a market of huge potential for Vietnamese enterprises to seek business opportunities.

However, enterprises will face many challenges when penetrating this market including geographic distance, transport costs, difference in culture and legal institutions amongst others.

Former Vietnamese Trade Counsellor to Chile, Tran Dinh Van said that Chile is one of the world's leading open economies, showing a tendency towards consumer protection. He noted that Vietnamese goods exported to Chile must be of at least medium quality as cheap goods cannot compete with those from China, India, Bangladesh and Peru.

Despite the decline in Chile's trade exchange with the world, Vietnam's exports to Chile retained impressive growth in 2016, as Vietnamese commodities have become increasingly competitive in the local market.

Vietnam's exports to Chile now surpass that of India and Thailand, becoming the leading ASEAN country exporting to Chile and ranks ninth in the world for exporting to this country.

Van added that there is enormous room for growth in the exportation of Vietnamese products to Chile, as the free trade agreement signed between the two countries referred to 9,000 types of products, while only around 100 types of products are being traded between the two sides at present.