VietNamNet Bridge – According to the General Department of Customs GDC, Vietnam’s export turnover to Japan in March 2011 still increased sharply through February, though people thought that the earthquake and tsunami in Japan would make the country’s demand for imports decrease.

Among the export items, some products saw export turnovers decrease sharply in March in comparison with February and January, namely coal (24.43 million dollars vs 26.2 million dollars in February and 31.68 million dollars in January). However, most of the other export items saw the export turnover increase over February.

Garment export turnover, for example, reached 132.58 million dollars, nearly double that of February (63.7 million dollars). Meanwhile, machine, equipment and component exports brought 90 million dollars in turnover, much higher than the export turnover of the same products in February (30 million dollars).

The import turnover from Japan in March also increased sharply, reaching 866.6 million dollar, higher than that in February (652.6 million) and January (766.4 million dollar).

If considering imports in the second half of March, after the earthquake and tsunami took place on March 11, one would see that among the 11 key categories of imports from Japan, only two categories of products saw import turnover increase, including steel and ships of different kinds. Meanwhile, the other nine categories of products such as fabrics, garment materials, car parts all saw slight decreases.

The import turnover of the 11 key categories of products in the second half of March reportedly reached 441.1 million dollars, an increase of 15.6 million dollars over the first half of the month.

Vietnam’s exports to Japan also decreased slightly in the second half of March. The export turnover of Vietnam’s 11 key categories of products to Japan in the second half of the month was 380.1 million dollars only, a decrease of 12.2 million dollars over the first half of the month. Especially, footwear exports saw the sharpest decreases.

To date, there has been no official report about the possible influences of the earthquake and tsunami on Vietnam’s exports to Japan. In fact, Vietnamese enterprises can still see opportunities to boost exports to Japan, especially in the short term.

The Trade Research Institute of Vietnam also believes that some export items will see short term growth, because Vietnam’s export items are mostly essential consumer goods, which are always in high demand.

According to the institute, Vietnam can boost the exports of farm produce and seafood, materials and minerals. The radiation leaks in Japan has had big impacts on the environment in Japan, which will lead to the higher demand for imports.

However, Vietnamese enterprises have been warned that they need to satisfy high requirements on food hygiene, and that the quarantine may be even harsher after the catastrophe. Many enterprises have urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to organize a Vietnamese food trade fair in Japan in the second quarter, where Vietnamese producers can introduce their products.

With the breakdown at Fukushima nuke plant, Japan has lost 30 percent of the electricity supply, which will lead to the higher demand for coal and oil imports. The information, plus the fighting situation in Libya would also help Vietnam’s crude oil and coal obtain growth.

In the immediate time, due to the catastrophe, it will take industrial production bases in Japan some time to restore production. This will badly affect the import of electronics components from Vietnam. However, experts believe that it will not be too long before the demand for imports increase again.

C. V