the country’s plastics exports may reach 1 billion USD this year as
Vietnam ’s plastic products have a firm foothold in the world.
According to the MoIT’s Industry and Trade Information Centre, the
export of plastic products in the first seven months of the year earnt
554 million USD. Amongst the 70 importers of Vietnamese plastic
products, Japan is the largest.
In the second
half of July only, Vietnam ’s exports of plastic products to Japan
reached over 11 billion USD, accounting for 26.5 percent of the
country’s total.
It was followed by the US
with an estimated turnover of 5.7 million USD. The US was the
largest importer of Vietnamese plastic products in 2009.
Besides their traditional markets, Vietnamese businesses have also
penetrated markets in new EU member countries like Lithuania , the
Czech Republic , Estonia , Hungary and Poland as well as
African and Middle Eastern countries, to maintain their export growth
and avoid risks when traditional markets fluctuate.
According to the MoIT, plastics is one of the fastest-growing
production sectors in Vietnam over the past ten years, with an
average growth rate of 15-20 percent per year. Plastic packaging earns
the most, accounting for 80 percent of the total value of plastic
exports.
However, the plastics sector still
relies heavily on imported materials and production is usually on a
small scale with no long-term investment strategies. At present, the
sector needs around 1.5 million tonnes of raw materials each year and
the domestic supply can only meet one fifth of this. Up to 90 percent of
the 2,000 domestic plastic producers are small and medium sized
businesses.
The Vietnam Plastics Association (VPA)
recommends that businesses should focus investment on groups of export
staples that have a competitive edge, develop hi-tech plastic products
and self-degrading wrappings and boost the production of domestic raw
materials. There should also be more emphasis on re-cycling.
At present, the plastics sector is focusing on building several
factories to produce polypropylene and polyethylene, which are due to
become operational later this year./.
