The Director of the import/Export Department, Nguyen Phu Hoa, said at an export forum held in early August, that Vietnam is likely to obtain an export turnover of $200 billion this year, an increase of 13 percent over last year.

He emphasized that exports to countries with which Vietnam has FTAs have been increasing, which shows that Vietnam can exploit opportunities from the agreements. However, he said big difficulties are ahead for Vietnam’s exports as the global economy has been witnessing big changes.

In the face of Brexit, and Trumps rejection of TPP, countries around the world are expected to reinforce technical barriers against imports to protect domestic production.

Hoa warned that these changes would pose high risks for Vietnam. He said it is time to reconsider the export quality, because the first export wave had reached a critical point.

Yuichiro Shiotani, CEO of Topvalu Japan, said Vietnam needs to make original high-quality products to create high value instead of competing with high output.

Experts agree that Vietnam needs to create a second export wave with a focus on increasing added value and improving Vietnamese brands.