Department of Import and Export, Ministry of Industry and Commerce finished summarizing the statistic of import-export under trade preferences in 2018, the import-export under trade preferences which Laos benefits from can be grouped into 2 categories: 1) Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and 2) preferences under free trade agreements (FTAs).
In 2018, the export under GSP reached only US$ 278.60 million and the main export countries are European Union, which currently only 68 companies using GSP. Meanwhile, the exports under FTA reached 1.03 billion US dollars, the export under FTAs covers more percentage than the export under GSP of over 78.77%. The FTA has many export potentials and agreements, for instance, ASEAN Trade In Goods Agreement (ATIGA or Form D), ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA or Form E), ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA or Form AK), ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA or Form AI) and ASEAN-Australia & New Zealand (AANZFTA or Form AANZ) and ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP or Form AJ).
There are 37 export countries under trade preferences, the main export countries are Thailand (US$ 425 million), Vietnam (US$ 332.85 million) and China (US$ 250.95 million). The main export group products are industrial products (US$ 637.56 million), agricultural products (US$ 406.94 million) and mineral products (US$ 89.50 million)
There are 39 import countries under trade preferences, the main import countries are Thailand (US$ 329.40 million), China (US$ 79.58 million) and Vietnam (US$ 76.39 million). The main import group products are the vehicle and spare parts (US$ 369.16 million), construction materials (US$ 85.41 million) and clothing (US$ 64.14 million)
Source: The statistic of import-export of Lao PDR under trade preferences in 2018 from Rule of Origin Division, Department of Import and Export
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