December 30, 2017 | By: NGUYEN DIEU TU UYEN –
From mobile phones to furniture, Vietnam’s export boom shows no signs of losing steam, defying a gloomy outlook at the beginning of the year when President Donald Trump persisted with his trade threats.
Furniture maker Xuan Hoa Viet Nam Co. is planning for a 20 percent increase in export orders next year by investing $3 million on equipment to expand production, General Director Le Duy Anh said in an interview. The company, based near Hanoi, makes office tables and cabinets for clients including Ikea.
“I’m quite optimistic about our sales next year,” Anh said. “We have new customers in Europe while our regular clients also sent more orders than last year.”
When Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January, it was seen as a blow to Vietnam, which exports about a fifth of its goods to the world’s largest economy. Instead, a global trade recovery and Vietnam’s young and low-cost workforce have been magnets for international investors like Nestle, which have opened factories in the country this year. That’s helping underpin its economy, which expanded 6.81 percent this year, among the fastest in the world.
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