Viet Nam is expected to enjoy a favourable trade surplus with Brazil through the end of the second quarter of 2010, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Brazil.
The Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade has said that last November, Viet Nam saw an export surplus of 3.77 million USD with Brazil and the figures for last December and January this year were more than 8 million USD and 8.6 million USD, respectively.
Currently, Viet Nam primarily ships mostly footwear, computers, garments, coal, rubber and fruit to Brazil . Meanwhile, it imports textiles and garments, iron and steel and machinery and equipment.
Director of the export assistance centre under the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Trade Promotion Agency Le Xuan Duong said Viet Nam 's exports to Brazil had the advantages of reasonable price and quality in a market with a population of 190 million and a medium GDP per capita.
Viet Nam 's footwear, fruit, seafood, textile and garment sectors had yet to fulfil their export potential to Brazil , Duong said, adding that footwear topped the list, making up 30 percent of the total value.
The Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (ABICAL-CADOS) also reported that the export of Vietnamese footwear products to Brazil had been on the rise in recent years. As Brazilian footwear products hold the lion's share of the Latin American market and are exported to 141 countries worldwide, it is expected that Brazil will become a gateway for Vietnamese footwear to enter many other markets.
Although two-way trade between Viet Nam and Brazil accounts for a small amount of Brazil 's import-export value, it indicates the advantages of Vietnamese products in Latin America and Brazil in particular.
Two-way trade between the two countries surged between 2005-08 with an increase of 60 percent per year, the Trade Promotion Agency said. Bilateral trade hit 534.5 million USD in 2008, a year-on-year increase of 96 percent.
Trade between Viet Nam and Brazil is forecast to reach 1 billion USD this year.
However, the agency said that to further exploit trade opportunities in Brazil , Vietnamese businesses should research the Brazilian market, as well as focus on more value-added products such as electronic components and consumer goods./.