Vietnam maintains trade surplus in first four months of 2019

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.

(Source: NDO)