Vietnam's soaring export and what does it mean for global trade

Vietnam’s export economy is one of the few that went unharmed and began to flourish throughout the pandemic. In the first quarter of this year, the nation has seen exponential growth. In the midst of this rapid growth, Vietnam’s exports have surpassed those of Shenzhen, China’s leading export city.¹

Over the past several years, Vietnam has served as a key player in the function global economy. That’s why this growth is very valuable for the Vietnamese economy, but it also has an impact on the global scale.

In this article, we’ll discuss Vietnam’s economic growth and its global impact. We will take a close look at how Vietnam’s growing export market is connected to exporting in China. To wrap things up, we’ll discuss how buying and selling on Alibaba.com can help B2B traders navigate the ever-changing global economy.

Vietnam’s economic growth: an overview

Within the past decade and a half, Vietnam has seen tremendous growth. Since 2011, Vietnam saw a decrease in poverty levels from 32% to less than 2%.² The decrease in poverty levels has helped to improve stability across the countries in a variety of ways which has set the nation up for greater success.

More recently, Vietnam’s export economy has boomed. In March 2021, Vietnam’s exports were up 14.8% year-to-date, and they were up a whopping 48.2% from just a month earlier.³ That month-to-month jump is quite significant.

It is important to point out that there were several major players in Vietnam’s corner throughout this recent period of growth.

The USAID, which is an organization sponsored by the US Government has been offering financial support to the Vietnamese government since 2014. They made contributions to Vietnam to reinforce the economic growth in early 2022.⁴

The World Bank offered payments of over $200 million at the end of 2021 to help reinforce the Vietnamese economy. This loan of sorts is to be paid back to the World Bank over the next 30 years.⁵

Global supply chain shifts

Even though Vietnam’s exports have only recently surpassed Shenzhen’s, Vietnam has been preparing for a supply chain shift since 2020.⁶ This preparation came as a response to tariffs that were placed on China during the Trump administration.⁷

The idea was to create other major manufacturing locations to shift some of the weight off of China to continue Asian trade in the event that the trade war between the United States and China became a major issue.

Fortunately, the situation between the United States and China was resolved, but Vietnam had still prepared for the worst. With less pressure from global conflict, Vietnam truly flourished.

The global impact of Vietnam’s economic recovery

Vietnam’s economic recovery and success are affecting more than just Vietnam. Even though Vietnam’s export numbers have surpassed those of China’s most prominent export cities, China is still benefitting from Vietnam’s economic boom.⁸

This may sound a bit backward, but the fact is that Vietnam and China are complementary economies, not competing ones. Vietnam’s success in China’s success. This shared success is a common theme for Vietnam because the nation has similar relationships with other countries, with Australia as a prime example.⁹

Tech products are currently the most popular Vietnamese exports. Some of the specifics include mobile phones, computers, computer parts, and other electronic products.¹⁰ Many of these products require chips that Vietnam sources from other Asian countries. When production and exports are up in Vietnam, the demand for chips from these other countries goes up, as well, thus boosting their export economies.¹¹

Vietnam’s success also leads to success for the nations and global corporations. For example, companies like Nike and Apple have leaned into Vietnam for their manufacturing needs.¹² Buy giving this business to Vietnamese manufacturers, these corporations provide income for locals while also maximizing their profit margins thanks to Vietnam’s low labor costs.

Trade on Alibaba.com

As things shift in the area of global trade, one thing remains constant: Alibaba.com’s support of B2B buyers and sellers from around the world.

Whether you’re looking to tap into the export growth in Vietnam, or you’re looking to tap into an economy that is still on the rise, you can do it with Alibaba.com. Our platform is equipped with all of the tools that B2B traders need to excel in cross-border trade.

With Alibaba.com buyers and sellers from over 200 countries can connect and carry out wholesale transactions. The platform is comprised of a marketplace where sellers can post their products for buyers to browse and a marketplace where buyers can post requests for quotations on their product needs.

No matter which Alibaba.com marketplace you use, you have the opportunity to make valuable business relationships with B2B trade partners.

Sign up for Alibaba.com to start trading in no time.