China buys 85 percent of Vietnam's total ore exports

According to GDC (General Department of Customs), Vietnam exported 4.4 million tons of ore and minerals worth $167 million in 2017.  Of this, 3.5 million tons, or 85 percent of total exports, went to China, but the export turnover was only 51.4 percent of total mineral export turnover.

The problem was that while the average export price was $38 per ton, the export price to the Chinese market was only $23 per ton. 

In 2017, Vietnam exploited 2.5 million tons of ores and minerals, an increase of 130 percent, but export turnover increased by 20 percent, or $27 million only.

Khuong Quang Dong, an energy expert, said that China is pursuing an energy conservation policy by increasing cooperation to exploit minerals overseas and imported raw materials for domestic processing. 

“Vietnam is an attractive market for China to implement the policy. In fact, the exploitation output can satisfy demand of the country’s industries. However, China is still trying to import minerals with no limitations,” Dong said.

To implement this, China has increased its support to developing countries through ODA, exchanging this for mining rights, which allows it to carry minerals to China for processing.

This is why big amounts of coal, ores and minerals have been heading for China in recent years. Vietnam mostly exports raw minerals and China remains the major export market.

According to Pham Chi Lan, a respected economist, China, which has a developed manufacturing and processing industry, wants to have as much raw materials as possible and it is a ‘market that is easy to please’. 

Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises don’t want to spend time and money to process minerals, but just want to ‘dig and sell’. 

Thus, China, which is not choosy, is an ideal market, though China only buys at low prices.

However, Lan said Vietnam should reconsider natural resource exploitation and the constant low pricing policies.

Dong also thinks it is ‘abnormal’ to sell ores dirt cheap to China.  

“Why don’t we think of forcing export prices up? Tell Chinese importers that Vietnam won’t sell ores to them if they pay low prices,” he said, adding that China needs a large amount of minerals from Vietnam, which is one of China’s most important suppliers.

China is also stepping up mineral exploration in countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In return, they are buying large quantities of iron ore and bauxite from these countries. 

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