Vietnam’s exports to Hungary on the rise

Vietnam has recorded impressive growth in exports to Hungary in recent years, statistics showed.

Exports from Vietnam to Hungary increased eight-fold to 1 billion USD in 2020 from 124.2 million USD in 2016. The figure stood at 842.7 million USD in the first 10 months of 2021, up 5% year on year, according to data from the European country.

Though shipments of agricultural and food products remain modest, the revenue posted a strong increase in the recent past as seen in some key exports.

Vietnam exported almost 4.4 million USD worth of processed coffee to Hungary in 2020, surging 38-fold from four years earlier, and 7.13 million USD during January - October of 2021, up 85.6% year on year.

Cashew nut exports grew 27.7% to nearly 2.4 million USD in 2020 compared to 2016, and 11.6% year on year to 2.2 million USD in the first 10 months of last year.

Rice shipments also increased 4.6-fold from 2016 to 198,000 USD in 2020 and 9-fold year on year to 700,000 USD in the 10-month period of 2021.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian country exported 1.49 million USD worth of processed noodles in 2020 and another 1.4 million USD during January - October of 2021, respectively rising 119.1% from 2016 and 9% from the same period of 2020.

Processed coffee, cashew nut, rice, and processed noodles of Vietnam are making up about 12.6 percent, 39.8 percent, 0.5 percent, and 20.5 percent of Hungary’s total imports of these commodities, respectively.

Hungary mainly imports goods from other EU countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, and France. Despite strong competition from these rivals, some Vietnamese commodities like cashew nut, peppercorn and coffee will have their own advantages and are expected to maintain good exports growth in Hungary.

Though Hungary is not a major market in the EU, its import demand has still been rising and stands at some 100 billion USD annually.

Taking effect in August 2020, the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is said to have opened even greater opportunities for Vietnamese firms to boost trade and investment ties with the bloc, including Hungary, in the time ahead./.