Vietnam's Export Performance in the Face of China's Competitive Challenge

This paper examines Vietnam's export performance in the face of China's emergence as a major competitor in global markets. We first use Constant Market Share analysis to investigate the influence of the factors determining ex-post export performance of Vietnam and China for the years 1997–2004. External trade indicators are then calculated in order to examine their specialization profiles. The paper suggests that, although China has become a huge competitor for the developing economies, this phenomenon has not crowded out Vietnam's exports. Rather, should the country incur losses of market share, it would mainly result from its own export pattern.