Vietnam earned 3.21 billion U.S. dollars from exporting footwear in the first ten months of this year, down 16 percent year-on-year, according to the information center of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Monday (09 Nov). With this figure, Vietnam is hardly to reach the target of raking in 4.77 billion U.S. dollars from exporting footwear this year, said the center. In the first ten months, Vietnam produced 269.1 million pairs of footwear, nearly equal to the number of footwear manufactured during the same period last year. In October alone, the country turned out 32.5 million pairs of footwear, down 18 percent year-on-year.

Vietnam’s bank lending at the end of October rose 33.3 percent from the end of 2008, in line with a government forecast of credit growth above 30 percent this year, the central bank said. Money supply last month increased 23.99 percent from December 2008, while bank deposits rose 25.72 percent in the same period, the State Bank of Vietnam said in its monthly report for October seen on Monday. It gave no values for loans and deposits. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told parliament last month that annual credit growth would be "above 30 percent" this year.

Vietnam’s government is targeting economic growth of 6.5% in 2010, up from the 5.2% expected this year. The government’s target was approved on Friday by the National Assembly which also aimed to keep annual inflation next year at 7%, the report said. Exports in 2010 are projected to rise more than 6% from this year, the agency said, citing a resolution on Vietnam’s socio-economic development plan for next year, passed by the parliament in a session closed to foreign media. The government has forecast exports would fall nearly 10% this year as the main markets for Vietnamese goods in the United States, the European Union and Japan have been hit by the global economic recession. On Wednesday the World Bank also forecast Vietnam’s gross domestic product would grow 6.5% next year, second only to China in developing East Asia. It forecast Vietnamese growth of 5.5% for 2009.

Auto sales in Vietnam last month surged 103 percent from a year earlier to 11,762 units after a jump of 104 percent in September, an industry report said on Friday. But sales from January to October fell 5 percent from the same period last year to 92,136 vehicles, after an annual fall of 12 percent in the first nine months, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp topped the list with 3,017 cars sold in October, up 25.7 percent from the same month last year. Its accumulated sales so far this year rose 24.4 percent from a year earlier to 22,463 cars. Vietnam’s economy grew an estimated 4.56 percent in the first nine months from a year earlier, slowing from 6.52 percent in the same period last year.

Environmental police met in Hai Phong port city on Nov. 5 to seek legal support for a ban on imports of obsolete equipment and the transfer of out-of-date technology into the country. The symposium, entitled “To prevent and combat violations of environmental law through imports-exports”, drew police from 24 border and sea port provinces and cities as well as representatives from the customs service, and veterinary and natural resources and environment sectors. The participants called upon relevant agencies to soon complete a legal corridor to block imports of scrap materials and equipment by issuing regulations to stop the inflow of obsolete and outdated technology.

Vietnam raked in 1.4 billion U.S. dollars from exporting 948,000 tons of coffee in the first ten months of this year, up 16.8 percent in volume but down 17.3 percent in value year-on-year, said a report on the website of the General Statistics Office on Friday. In October alone, the country exported 60,000 tons of coffee, bringing in 90 million U.S. dollars, up 33 percent in volume and 2. 3 percent in value year-on-year, said the office. This year, Vietnam is expected to earn 1.8 billion U.S. dollars from exporting an estimated more than one million tons of coffee, local newspaper the Labor quoted the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association as saying on Friday. The association attributed the expected decrease in export turnover of coffee this year to the falling coffee price in the world market. Last year, Vietnam exported 1.06 million tons of coffee, raking in 2.11 billion U.S. dollars.