Favorable trade balance

Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$2.53 billion in the first four months of this year, much higher than the surplus of US$1.5 billion in the same period last year.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, the total import-export value in the four-month period reached US$242.19 billion, with exports at US$122.36 billion, up 16.4% year-on-year, and imports at US$119.83 billion, up 15.7%.

The domestic sector suffered a trade deficit of US$9.2 billion while the foreign investment sector enjoyed a trade surplus of US$11.73 billion.

There were 22 commodities with exports of over US$1 billion each, of which six commodities earned over US$5 billion each, including smartphones and parts (US$21.07 billion), electronics, computers and parts (US$18.04 billion), machinery and equipment (US$13.45 billion), textiles and garments (US$11.77 billion), footwear (US$7.34 billion) and timber and woodwork (US$5.47 billion). Imports were made up mostly of input materials and machinery for production.

The United States was the largest market for exports, generating US$35.7 billion. It was followed by China (US$19.1 billion), the EU (US$15.7 billion), ASEAN (US$11.1 billion), South Korea (US$8.6 billion) and Japan (US$7.4 billion). Meanwhile, China was the largest market for imports with US$37.1 billion, followed by South Korea (US$23.8 billion), ASEAN (US$16.9 billion), Japan (US$8.2 billion), the EU (US$5.3 billion) and the U.S. (US$4.8 billion).

Thus, the country enjoyed a surplus of US$30.1 billion in trade with the U.S. and US$10.4 billion in trade with the EU. Meanwhile, it incurred a deficit of US$18 billion in trade with China, US$15.2 billion with South Korea, US$5.8 billion with ASEAN and US$790 million with Japan.