Việt Nam to boost trade with Malaysia post-pandemic

Visitors look at Vietnamese products displayed at a meeting on Thursday in HCM City. — Photo courtesy of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre

HCM CITY — Việt Nam and Malaysia have great potential to promote trade and investment with Malaysia being one of the most important importers of Vietnamese goods in Southeast Asia in the post-pandemic period, a HCM City official said.

Speaking at a meeting on June 2, Trần Phú Lữ, deputy director of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), said key Vietnamese exports to Malaysia include machinery and equipment and their parts, computers, electronics and components, steel, petroleum, and chemicals.

“The two countries have set a trade target of US$25 billion by 2030.” 

“The recent visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob to Việt Nam in March confirmed the strategic relationship between the two countries.”

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the global trade deal which took effect early this year, would help boost bilateral trade, he added.

Last year, Malaysia was the ninth largest trade partner for Việt Nam.

Việt Nam was the 11th largest trade partner and seventh largest export market for Malaysia with their trade rising by nearly 25 per cent to $11.8 billion in 2021. 

According to the General Department of Customs, the figure for the first four months of this year was an estimated $5 billion, up 15 per cent year-on-year.

Việt Nam’s exports to Malaysia were worth nearly $1.7 billion in the first four months, up 12 per cent year-on-year. 

Halal industry

The Malaysian Halal market was worth $3.1 billion last year and is expected to grow to $5 billion by 2030, and Việt Nam could export this product to the country, according to Lữ.

Malaysia currently ranks eighth out of the 140 countries and territories that have invested in Việt Nam, with 664 projects worth $13 billion as of the end of 2021. 

Việt Nam has 21 projects in Malaysia with registered capital of $853 million, the ninth biggest of its 78 overseas investment destinations. — VNS