The General Statistics Office reported on May 29 that exports during the January-May period fell 1.7% to US$99.36 billion while imports shrank by 3.8% to US$97.48 billion.
Exports by domestic enterprises rose 10.4% to reach US$33.3 billion while exports from the foreign sector slumped by 6.9% with revenues of US$66.06 billion, official data shows.
On the import side, both Vietnamese and foreign enterprises recorded respective decreases of 3.2% and 4.3%.
The United States remained the largest buyer of Vietnamese goods in the first five months of 2020 with US$24.6 billion, up 8.2% compared with the same period in 2019, followed by China’s at US$16.3 billion, up 20% year on year.
In the meantime, exports to the EU plunged by 12% to US$12.9 billion and shipments to ASEAN countries plummeted by 13.4% to US$9.4 billion.
Exports to Japan climbed by 2.2% while exports to the Republic of Korea dropped by 0.5%.
China was the largest source of Vietnamese imports with US$28.9%, followed by the Republic of Korea and ASEAN.
