Jan-Nov trade surplus rises 18 times to $10.6 bln

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of $10.6 billion in January-November, versus $600 million in the same period last year.

The achievement was based on a 13.4% year-on-year increase in export revenues to $342.21 billion, while imports rose 10.1% to $331.61 billion, according to the General Statistics Office.

China and the U.S. were Vietnam's two biggest trade partners in the 11-month period, with values of $162.9 billion and $115.1 billion, respectively, followed by South Korea ($80.7 billion), ASEAN ($74.4 billion), and the EU ($57.6 billion).

China was the biggest goods supplier to Vietnam with $109.9 billion, up 9.9% year-on-year, followed by South Korea with $58.2 billion, up 15%, and ASEAN with $43.3 billion, a 16.4% increase.

The U.S. was the biggest export destination of Vietnam in January-November with $101.5 billion, up 18% year-on-year; followed by China with $53 billion, up 5.7%, and the EU with $43.5 billion, rising 21%.

Amid the economic slowdown and low number of orders among businesses, the November export revenue went down 8.4% year-on-year to $29.18 billion. However, the January-November export revenue rose 13.4% year-on-year to $342.21 billion thanks to post-pandemic recovery.

In the last 11 months, processing and manufacturing accounted for 89% of the country's export revenues, followed by farm produce and forestry goods with 6.6%, and fisheries with 3%.

In November, footwear was the only major product with a year-on-year growth in export revenue, up 29.9% to $2.05 billion.

Other major export products recorded decreases, including wood and wooden products with $1.1 billion, down 14.6%; apparel with $2.85 billion, or 6.4% lower; machinery and equipment with $3.8 billion, down 8.3%; electronic goods, computers, and spare parts with $4 billion, or a 13.9% reduction; and phones and spare parts with $5.3 billion, or 0.7% lower year-on-year.

Nevertheless, in January-November, footwear export revenue reached $22.18 billion, up 40.2% year-on-year; wood and wooden products $14.59 billion, up 9%; machinery and equipment $41.97 billion, up 23.3%; electronic goods, computers, and spare parts $50.62 billion, or a 11.2% hike; and phones and spare parts $55.67 billion, or 7.2 % higher.

As the fuel shortage at gasoline stations in October has gradually ended in November, data showed that the import of gasoline and crude oil increased by 86.5% and 155.4% year-on-year in the month, the highest pace among all commodities, to reach $757 million and $1.25 billion, respectively.

Besides, the import of key products was on a downtrend in November. The import expenditures of electronic goods, computers, and spare parts slumped 25.6% year-on-year in November to $5.8 billion, but rose 11.8% year-on-year in January-November to $76.25 billion.

Similarly, the import expenditure of phones and spare parts decreased 10.3% year-on-year in November to $2.1 billion, but went up 3.5% year-on-year in the 11-month period to $19.88 billion.

The figures for machinery and equipment declined 6.8% year-on-year in November and 1.9% year-on-year in January-November to $3.7 billion and $41.5 billion, respectively.

In the 11-month period, input materials accounted for the biggest import portion with $310.45 billion, or 93.6%; followed by consumer goods with $21.16 billion, or 6.4%.