Vietnam electronics exports remain strong

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has disclosed demand for computers and network devices is expected to grow further as people continue to work from home. Export goods such as computers, handsets, and other components are expected to reach US$53- 54 billion in 2021, increasing by 20% on year.

According to Vietnamese-language ictnews, with people spending more time on their smartphones during the pandemic, revenues from handsets and components remained over US$50 billion last year, slightly down 0.4% from 2019, despite a lack of components supplied by China early at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Vietnam-based foreign suppliers such as Samsung are the biggest contributor to Vietnam’s exports of electronics. Samsung has set up its largest components production and handset assembly plants, SEV and SEVT, in Vietnam’s Bac Ninh province and Thai Nguyen province, respectively. In fact, 60% of Samsung’s smartphones are manufactured and assembled in Vietnam.

The Thai Nguyen plant tops the list of production capacity, producing more than 98.4 million smartphones in 2020. The Bac Ninh plant produced the second-most handsets in the same year, or 94.6 million phones. The Bac Ninh plant handles a wide range of Samsung phones, while the Thai Nguyen only makes smartphones priced between VND3 million (US$130.43) and VND10 million.

Over 90% of Vietnam’s smartphone exports are from Samsung, although exports of Samsung phones dropped by 17.7% last year due to the pandemic. Nearly 60% of Vietnam’s smartphone exports are shipped to the EU and the US.

Exports of electronics are expected to continue growing, according to VnEconomy. The Vietnamese government will need a long-term plan to foster the industry, encourage innovation and production, and to have clearer laws and regulations for locally-made products, according to the Vietnamese-language news outlet.

By Ivy Su & Yusin Hu – Digitimes Asia – July 5, 2021