Vietnamese exports for the year as of March 15 were worth $62.01 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22.7 per cent, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Exports to the US in the first two months of the year accounted for $13.83 billion or 28.4 per cent of total exports.

In recent years the US has become Vietnam’s biggest market. Last year, for instance, at $76.4 billion it accounted for 27 per cent of the latter’s total exports.

Garment 10 JSC director-general Than Duc Viet said there were several factors behind Vietnam’s rapid growth in exports including to the US.

Primarily, he said, the Covid-19 pandemic has gradually been controlled around the world, especially after several countries started vaccinating their populations, enabling many of them to reopen their borders and trade to resume.

Businesses in the country, hit badly for the last year or so by the pandemic, are making strenuous efforts to bounce back, he pointed out.

Many countries around the world have rolled out large stimulus packages to spend their way out of the economic slump, and this has revived trade, he added.

Many analysts concurred with these views, saying the US recently launched a $1.9 trillion package to make direct payments of $1,400 to individuals earning up to $75,000 a year starting in April.

This is the third and largest stimulus since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

Vietnam, one of the US’s major exporters, supplying essential items like fisheries products and garments and electronics, is expected to benefit from this relief package.

Viet of Garment 10 told Dau Tu Chung Khoan magazine that Vietnamese exporters hope to get orders from the US.

US citizens are known as big spenders, and if they get the money from the government consumption would surely rise, he said.

His own company’s exports to the US saw relatively high growth in the first quarter and are expected to grow further due to the huge new stimulus package.

Red River Garment JSC director general Bui Viet Quang said his company had enough export orders for until August this year, 80 per cent from the US.

“The US’ $1.9 trillion stimulus package will surely affect enterprises that export to the market. We expect to see robust growth [in US export orders] in the fourth quarter.”

Analysts said a recovery in the US economy would help Vietnamese exporters, especially those in the textile and garment industry.

However, analysts also sounded a warning saying while the US stimulus packages would benefit Vietnam’s exporters in the short term, loose monetary policies could cause high inflation, which would increase their costs whereas they would not be able to increase prices immediately, affecting their margins.

Besides, the inflation would also hurt demand, they added.

VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK