Vietnam’s rubber exports will grow 22.3% on-year to US$1.5 billion this year thanks to high global demand on the economy recovery, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Statistics and Informatics Center predicted.

Many companies missed the opportunity to purchase cheap materials and equipment because of capital shortage, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said at a 2010 six-month review meeting.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) became the third largest trading partner of China with the bilateral trade of $111.8 billion in the first five months of 2010, the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

Trade between Vietnam and the EU stood at US$7.7 billion in the first half of this year, including the former’s trade surplus of US$1.9 billion, according to the General Statistics Office.

At the monthly press conference in May 2010, Minister and President of Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that macroeconomic indicators were stable and inflation was contained.

Vietnamese shrimp prices have reached the highest level over the past 10 years due to a scarcity of materials, said Le Van Quang, general director of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation.

Vietnam targets to become the world’s top textile and garment exporter in 2010 from last year’s 8th position. The apparel industry took the lead among Vietnam’s export items with a turnover of $9.1 billion in 2009, jumping 78 times against that of 1991.

Vietnam’s exports to Africa are expected to soar during the World Cup 2010, which will take place in South Africa for the first time from June 11 to July 11, a center of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

Vietnamese firms expect to sign contracts to export a total 600,000 tons of rice to African countries in May, raising the country’s total rice export volume under contracts to 4.6 million tons, said Pham Van Bay, vice chairman of the Vietnam Food Association.

Despite bad impacts of the global economic crisis, trade between Vietnam and the EU reached US$15.2 billion in 2009, surpassing the set goal of US$15 billion in a master plan on the Vietnam-EU diplomatic ties in 2010, Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's European Market Department Dang Hoang Hai, said.