Huge potential market

Over the past five years, Vietnam and Turkey have made certain progress in two-way trade turnover, says Tran Quang Huy, Head of the Africa, West Asia and South Asia Market Department.

Vietnam’s total imports and exports increased by 115% from US$443 million in 2008 to 952.8 million in 2012 and reached US$668.5 million in the first seven months of this year.

Vietnam exports different kinds of goods to Tuimporkey, including cotton, fibre, garment, footwear, rubber, mobile phones, rice, coconut rice, timber, steel, machinery and equipment, computers, electronics, pepper, tea, tobacco, electric wires and cables, plastic products, handicrafts, ceramics and seafood.

Vietnam is always in trade surplus: its exports to Turkey reached US$333 million in 2008 (triple Turkey’s figure), US$772 million in 2011 (10 times higher than Turkey’s figure), and US$862.7 million in 2012 (9.6 times higher than Turkey’s figure).

This is attributed to Turkey’s growing demand for Vietnamese goods and Vietnam’s efforts to build policy and mechanisms for market research, promotion and expansion.

Vice versa, Vietnam imports steel, cotton, automobile spare parts, pharmaceuticals, plastic materials, garment and leather materials, animal food and chemicals from Turkey, though at too low a level.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Turkey Nguyen The Cuong says on the one hand Turkish businesses have to compete fiercely in terms of both price and quality with those from Vietnam’s traditional market, such as the EU, US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and China in the long-run.

But on the other hand, they have not paid due attention to boosting trade cooperation with Vietnam. Just a few business delegations have come to Vietnam in recent times, even though Turkey plans to raise its exports to Asia to US$500 billion by 2030.

Trade promotion

According to the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam and Turkey have not yet fully exploited even opportunity for trade cooperation, despite a growth in bilateral trade turnover.

Exports of some key Vietnamese products such as garment, footwear, rubber, timber products and pepper to Turkey remain at too low level to meet Turkey’s growing demand.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s key products imported into Vietnam are machinery and equipment, but they are almost the same to compare with similar ones from China and Europe in terms of both price and quality.

To achieve US$3 billion in trade turnover by 2015 and US$8-10 billion in 2020, Vietnam and Turkey will have to accelerate trade promotions at major fairs and exhibitions.

They will also have to adjust their plans to minimize losses caused by protective and anti-dumping decisions when there is not yet a completed mechanism for boosting bilateral trade relations in the long run.

VOV