Export Leverage
In context of increasingly deep international economic integration, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has emerged as a strategic lever, bringing outstanding competitive advantages to Vietnamese goods in the Asian market. Over the past 3 years, RCEP has created momentum for exports as well as facilitated the expansion of trade and investment, developed regional supply chains and contributed to global economic growth.
With a commitment to eliminate nearly 90% of tariff lines within 20 years, RCEP helps form a stable and long-term export market for Vietnam, especially in context of fluctuating global supply chains, contributing to promoting export-oriented production.
According to Customs Department, electronics industry continues to be the "locomotive" of Vietnam's exports when export turnover in the first 8 months of 2025 reached over 100 billion USD, accounting for more than 30% of the country's total exports, up 25% over the same period.
In the first 8 months of 2025, export of computers, electronic products and components reached 10.15 billion USD. China is also an important partner with 11.02 billion USD, up 38.6%. In addition, other major markets such as Korea also recorded stable growth. For export of phones and components, Chinese market continued to lead with 8.21 billion USD, Korea reached 2.7 billion USD (up 9.3%).
Meanwhile, export of wood and wood products in the past 8 months continued to maintain a stable growth momentum when bringing in 11.2 billion USD in export turnover, up 7% over the same period last year. The United States remains main export market, accounting for the largest proportion. Notably, Japan recorded outstanding growth, reaching a proportion of 12.4%. China ranked third with 10.9% of export turnover.
Textile and garment exports will reach 44 billion USD in 2024, an increase of 11.26% compared to 2023. In the RCEP bloc, exports to Japan will reach 4.3 billion USD, South Korea will reach 3.1 billion USD and China will reach 1.3 billion USD. In the first 7 months of 2025, Vietnam's textile and garment industry will maintain a positive growth momentum with export turnover reaching over 26.33 billion USD, an increase of 5.3 billion USD, equivalent to 9% compared to the same period in 2024.
In terms of markets, Japan continues to hold an important position when it ranks 3rd in export turnover, reaching 2.53 billion USD, accounting for 11.2% of total turnover. South Korea also affirmed its role as a major partner with a turnover of 1.6 billion USD, accounting for 7.1%. Notably, textile and garment exports to Southeast Asia grew steadily, reaching over 1.23 billion USD, accounting for 5.5% and increasing by 6.3% over the same period last year.
Chairman of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association Vu Duc Giang emphasized that Japan and South Korea are currently important import markets for Vietnamese textile and garment products in the RCEP bloc. Although ASEAN and China both have strong textile and garment industries, these countries still prioritize imports from members of the agreement. This is an advantage for Vietnam to expand its market share and affirm its position in the regional value chain.
Innovating business thinking
According to Ministry of Industry and Trade, new-generation FTAs have been bringing Vietnam tens of billions of USD in revenue each year from exports but implementation still shows many limitations. One of the major bottlenecks is that rate of domestic enterprises utilizing tariff incentives from FTAs is still very low compared to the potential.
Currently, rate of Vietnamese enterprises utilizing incentives from FTAs is still low, such as CPTPP is nearly 5%, EVFTA is nearly 26% and UKVFTA is about 24%. Notably, a research report by Central Institute for Economic Management (formerly) published in early 2024 shows that the rate of utilizing incentives in the RCEP Agreement is 0.67% and is also the lowest among the FTAs that Vietnam has participated in.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) sector still has an absolute advantage in exporting key products with large turnover. On the contrary, domestic enterprises are still mostly in the processing position, participating in stages with low added value, mainly exporting raw materials or semi-finished products.
This poses an urgent need to enhance the integration capacity of domestic enterprises, from improving understanding of FTA commitments, improving production management, supply chains to developing supporting industries to help Vietnamese goods take advantage of incentives more effectively, enhance competitiveness and affirm their position in international market.
In 2024, Vietnamese textile and garment industry sets an export target of 47-48 billion USD. To reach the target, remaining export turnover must reach over 4 billion USD per month on average, which is a significant challenge in the context of market fluctuations.
Mr. Pham Xuan Hong, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Textile and Garment Association, said that the industry is facing the risk of being investigated for trade fraud and applying defense measures from major markets. This forces businesses to increase the localization rate, strictly comply with rules of origin and at the same time take full advantage of tariff incentives from FTAs, especially with partners such as Japan or Australia.
According to Mr. Hong, immediate solution is to renegotiate export contracts to share costs with partners, thereby maintaining and stabilizing orders. In the long term, businesses need to proactively transform, not stopping at the processing stage but focusing on developing new products, targeting high-end segments and niche markets. At the same time, promoting application of technology and increasing automation in production is an inevitable trend to increase productivity, reduce long-term costs and enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese textiles and garments in the international market.
Similarly, Mr. Ngo Sy Hoai, Vice President and General Secretary of Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association, assessed that RCEP has created a more favorable trade environment, reduced many tariff barriers and applied a common set of rules of origin, helping Vietnamese wood enterprises easily access raw materials and expand exports to major markets such as China, Japan, Korea, Australia and ASEAN countries.
However, Vietnamese wood enterprises are facing many barriers when expanding trade within the RCEP bloc. If they do not quickly improve their management capacity, innovate technology and invest in brand building, Vietnamese wood enterprises will find it difficult to fully take advantage of the opportunities that RCEP brings and at the same time, they will easily be disadvantaged in the fierce competition within the bloc.
Previously, at conference "Celebrating 3rd anniversary of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement coming into effect, connecting and promoting regional cooperation in a volatile context", Ms. Nguyen Viet Chi, Deputy Director of Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, emphasized that in order to increase the benefits from RCEP, businesses need to proactively seek information to grasp commitments of Vietnam and interested partner markets. On other hand, businesses need to change their business mindset in new context, taking competitive pressure as a driving force for innovation and development. Proactively seek directions for cooperation with partner markets of the RCEP Agreement to attract direct investment into Vietnam in order to effectively utilize capital and technology transfer from large corporations, aiming to participate more deeply in region and globally.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn