Phone, spare part export set on declining trend

The growth rate of the export of phones and spare parts fell by more than half in 2016.

The General Statistics Office of Vietnam has estimated 2016 exports of phones and spare parts at $34.5 billion, up 14.4 per cent. This number is significantly lower than the recent peak of 29.9 per cent in 2015.

In September, Samsung recalled and discontinued the production and retail of its Galaxy Note 7 phones due to battery issues that caused the phones to explode. Though some of these phones, as well as parts, were produced in the company’s plants in Vietnam, the country’s exports of phones and spare parts in October, November, and December did not decrease. On-year growth was 6.4 per cent, 17.7 per cent, and 6.79 per cent for the three months, respectively.

The General Department of Statistics said that the Note 7 debacle did affect the operation of Samsung Vietnam, bringing down the company’s profit, but the impact on exports is not significant. The reason, according to the department, is that a big part of the Galaxy Note 7 devices produced in Vietnam were sold domestically. Also, Samsung Vietnam pushed the export of other products to make up for the decreasing export of the Note 7.

“Still, we forecast that phone and spare part export is going to see slowing growth in the next years,” the office said on its website.

In 2016, Vietnam’s total exports stood at $175.9 billion. Phones and spare parts contributed 19.6 per cent of this total.

By Ha Duy / vir