Foreign firms in Vietnam record $41.9-bln trade surplus in 2022

Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam posted a trade surplus of $41.9 billion in 2022, while the country’s trade surplus reached $11.2 billion, according to the General Statistics Office.

The country recorded export revenue of $371.85 billion, up 10.6% year-on-year. Of which, FIEs accounted for $276.76 billion, up 12.1%, or 74.4%.

Import expenditure reached $360.65 billion, up 8.4% compared with the same period last year, including $234.86 billion of FIEs, up 7.5%, or 65.1% of the total.

In December, FIEs spent $18.8 billion on importing goods, up 3.4% versus November but down 11.1% year-on-year; while earning $22.03 billion from exporting goods, up 1.9% from the previous month but down 10.6% year-on-year.

In December, the country’s trade turnover rose 2.7% to $58.82 billion over November but fell 11.2% year-on-year, amid trade headwinds.

Export items in the year included phones and spare parts with $59.29 billion, up 3.1% year-on-year; computers, electronics, and spare parts with $55.24 billion, up 8.7%; machines and spare parts with $45.72 billion, up 19.3%; apparel and textile with $37.5 billion, up 14.5%; and footwear with $23.93 billion, up 34.8%.

Products from the manufacturing and processing industry accounted for the biggest portion of 89% with a revenue of $331 billion, followed by agriculture and forestry goods with 6.7% or $24.73 billion, aquaculture goods with 2.9% or $10.93%, and natural resources with 1.4% or $5.19 billion.

Key import products featured computers, electronics, and spare parts with $82.07 billion, up 8.6% year-on-year; machines and spare parts with $45.39 billion, down 2%; phones and spare parts with $21.21 billion, down 1.2%; fabrics with $14.77 billion, up 3.1%; and plastics with $12.45 billion, up 5.9%.

Materials for production remained the biggest portion of imports with $337.17 billion, or 93.5% of the total spending, while consumer goods accounted for 6.5% only with $23.48 billion.

China, the U.S., and South Korea were the biggest three trade partners of Vietnam in the year. Bilateral trade with China was $177.7 billion, of which Vietnam exported goods worth $58.4 billion to the northern neighbor, up 4.5% year-on-year; and imported goods worth $119.3 billion from the behemoth, up 7.9%.

The Southeast Asian nation posted a trade surplus of $94.5 billion with the U.S., with export revenue of $109.1 billion, up 13.3% year-on-year; and import expenditure of $14.6 billion, down 4.5%.

Regarding South Korea, Vietnam gained $24.2 billion from exporting to the East Asian nation, up 10.2% year-on-year; while spending $62.5 billion on importing goods from there, up 11%.