Vietnam to reduce petroleum imports to curb trade deficit

Vietnam will cut imports of petroleum products by about 3 million metric tons next year as it seeks to curb the widening trade deficit, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian nation’s first refinery may help reduce dependence on fuel imports and narrow the deficit. The US$2.5 billion Dung Quat plant is set to start production in February and will be capable of processing about 6.5 million tons of crude annually.

“We expect that the Dung Quat oil refinery, scheduled to come into operation early next year, will be able to cover for the reduction in volume of imports,” Bien said in a telephone interview from Hanoi.

Vietnam imported 11 million tons of petroleum products worth of $10.3 billion in the January to October period, the second-biggest import by value after machinery, according to data from the General Statistics Office in Hanoi.

The trade deficit may reach $20 billion in 2009, an increase of 5 percent from this year, the Vietnam News Agency reported Wednesday, citing the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The shortfall was $16.3 billion in the 10 months to October, according to the government.

Source: Bloomberg

Update from: http://www.thanhniennews.com/business/?catid=2&newsid=43908