Vietnam maintains trade surplus in first four months of 2019

Vietnam maintained a trade surplus of US$711 million in the first four months of this year, much lower than US$3.7 billion recorded in the same period in 2018.

Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$711 million in the first four months of 2019. (Photo: VGP)
Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$711 million in the first four months of 2019. (Photo: VGP)

According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, total import and export turnover in the first four months of 2019 was estimated at US$156.8 billion, of which exports reached US$78.8 billion, up 5.8% over the same period last year, and imports were at US$78 billion, up 10.4%.

Export turnover increased by 5.8% compared to the same period in 2018, of which the domestic economic sector gained US$23.33 billion, up 10.5% and accounting for 29.6% of the total, while the foreign invested sector (including crude oil) reached US$55.43 billion, up 4% and accounting for 70.4% (the proportion decreased by 1.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year).

In the last four months, 16 export items earned value of more than US$1 billion, accounting for 81.2% of total export turnover. Of which, several items increased their export value over the same period last year, including electronics, computers and components reaching US$9.6 billion, up 12.6%, textiles and garments reaching US$9.4 billion, up 9.8%, footwear US$5.3 billion, up 13.4%, machinery, equipment and spare parts at US$5.3 billion, up 4.1%, and wood and wood products reaching US$3.1 billion, up 17.8.

Although phones and components enjoyed the largest export value, reaching US$16 billion and accounting for 20.4% of the total exports, the items decreased by 0.2% compared to the same period last year. Seafood exports were also down 1.3%, reaching US$2.4 billion.

The United States continues to be Vietnam's largest export market with a turnover of US$17.8 billion, up 28.4% over the same period last year, of which phones and components rose 104.9%, footwear increased by 9.4%, and textiles and garments were up by 8.5%. The EU ranked second with US$13.7 billion, followed by China at US$10.4 billion, down 5.8%, and ASEAN with US$8.4 billion, up 7.3%.

Regarding the imported goods market, China is still the largest import market of Vietnam with a value at US$22.3 billion, up 18.8% compared to the same period last year, followed by the Republic of Korea with US$15.5 billion and ASEAN with US$10.8 billion.