FDI sector in Vietnam posts $50 bln trade surplus in 2023

Foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam recorded a merchandise trade surplus of $49.74 billion in 2023, larger than $41.9 billion posted in 2022.

Domestic companies, meanwhile, incurred a trade deficit of $21.74 billion, the General Statistics Office said Friday.

This led to an overall all-time high merchandise trade surplus of $28 billion in 2023, larger than $26 billion estimated by the trade ministry earlier this month. The figure included a trade surplus of $2.28 billion in December.

In 2023, the country earned an estimated export turnover of $355.5 billion, down 4.4% year-on-year as external demand weakened.

Of this, the domestic sector raked in $95.55 billion from overseas shipments, sliding 0.3% year-on-year and accounting for 26.9% of the total. The foreign sector reaped $259.95 billion, down 5.8%, making up 73.1% of the total.

Electronics, computers and spare parts was still the largest export staple of Vietnam, bringing $57.34 billion, up 3.3% year-on-year. The runners-up were phones and spare parts ($53.19 billion, down 8.3%), machinery and equipment ($43.2 billion, down 5.6%), garment and textile ($33.23 billion, down 11.6%), and footwear ($20.37 billion, down 14.7%).

Meanwhile, Vietnam spent $327.5 billion on imports, down 8.9% year-on-year. Of this, imports by the domestic sector totaled $117.29 billion, down 7.2%, and those by the foreign sector were $210.21 billion, down 9.8%.

The largest groups of import items were electronics, computers, and spare parts ($88.19 billion, up 7.7% year-on-year), machinery and equipment ($41.48 billion, down 8.1%), cloth ($13 billion, down 11.1%), and steel and iron products ($10.54 billion, down 11.6%).

In terms of export market, the U.S. remained at the top, with a value of $96.8 billion, followed by China with $61.7 billion, and the EU with $44.1 billion.

On the other side, China remained Vietnam’s largest import market in 2023, with $111.6 billion, followed by South Korea with $52.6 billion.

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the U.S. dwindled 12.6% year-on-year to circa $83 billion, and with the EU down 7.6% to $29.1 billion.

The country’s trade deficit with China dropped 17.6% to $49.9 billion, with South Korea down 23.3% to $29.1 billion, and with ASEAN down 37.2% to $8.3 billion.

GSO data showed Vietnam incurred a services trade deficit of $9.47 billion in 2023.