ベトナムにおける自動車部品の輸出拡大と貿易構造変化―自動車部品生産を起点とした自動車産業発展の可能性

抄録

Since 1980, Global Value Chain (GVC) in the automotive industry has brought about transformative changes in emerging countries. Vietnam, as a burgeoning player in the automotive sector, has witnessed this transformation from its inception. Despite a surge in domestic auto sales in the late 2010s, the production of auto-parts for domestic automotive assembly continues to rely heavily on imports from the existing GVC, with little emphasis on enhancing domestic production.

On the other hand, Vietnam has seized opportunities to become a global auto-parts export hub. However, these production activities are not closely integrated with domestic auto assembly, as various auto-parts are primarily produced for export via Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Prior research has characterized this FDI-driven and labor-intensive auto-parts production in emerging countries as tentative and may be withdrawn quickly once relative labor cost increases.

This research note focuses on the analysis of structural change within Vietnam’s auto-parts trade and aims to determine whether the FDI-based auto-parts industry in Vietnam remains exclusively focused on labor-intensive parts production or is progressing towards diversification and sophistication of the product, playing an enhanced role in GVC.

For this purpose, we provide a brief overview of Vietnam’s automotive and parts industry and conducted a detailed and multi-dimensional analysis of auto-parts trade. Key findings in the research includes: 1) The auto-parts sector in Vietnam is dominated by foreign companies, but their origin has diversified beyond Japanese companies to various other countries. 2) Vietnam has emerged as the second largest auto-parts exporter in ASEAN after Thailand. This expansion encompasses not only the scale but also the diversity of export destinations and items, with significant regional variations. Notably, imports of auto-parts have been rising from South Korea and China, in preference to other ASEAN countries. 3) An analysis of the relationship between the complexity index of import/export items and trade value confirms that while export growth is highly associated with NAFTA, greater complexity and diversification in exports of auto-parts are evident in trade with Korea and China.

Vietnam’s export-oriented auto-parts manufacturing heavily relies on FDI and is strongly influenced by the strategies of OEM leading GVCs in the auto production sector. The expansion of Vietnam’s auto-parts exports stems not only from the export of labor-intensive auto-parts to specific countries, but also from strengthened ties with multiple OEM manufacturers’ GVCs, fostering diversification and complexity in production.