Foreign-invested firms post Jan-Feb trade surplus of $8.25 bln

Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam posted a trade surplus of $8.25 billion in the first two months of the year, according to government data.

They had recorded a surplus of $5.04 billion in January.

The FIEs export goods worth $43.2 billion in the two-month period, up 14.7% year-on-year; and spent $34.95 billion on imports, up 13.3%, the General Statistics Office said in its report released Thursday.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese companies recorded a trade deficit of $3.53 billion in the first two months of the year, up from $2.12 billion in January.

Overall, Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of $4.72 billion in the period, up from $3.5 billion a year earlier and $2.92 billion in January.

Export turnover in January and February is estimated at $59.34 billion, up 19.2% year-on-year. In the same period last year, its exports were down 10.4% year-on-year to $49.44 billion.

Eleven merchandise groups saw their export value exceed $1 billion in Jan-Feb 2024. Phones and spare parts were the largest export staple, bringing $9.58 billion, up 4.1% year-on-year.

They were followed by electronics, computers and spare parts ($9.55 billion, up 33.9%); machinery and equipment ($6.82 billion, up 8.4%); garment and textile ($5.23 billion, up 15%), and footwear ($2.27 billion, up 18.3%).

Vietnam spent $54.62 billion on imports, up 18% year-on-year. The largest groups of import items were electronics, computers, and spare parts ($15.56 billion, up 24.2% year-on-year); machinery and equipment ($6.98 billion, up 24.8%); fabric ($1.98 billion, up 15.4%); and steel and iron products ($1.95 billion, up 62.7%).

The U.S. remained Vietnam’s top export market with a value of $17.4 billion, up 33.7% year-on-year, followed by China ($8.1 billion, up 7.7%) and the EU ($7.7 billion, 14.2%).

China continued to be Vietnam’s largest import market, with $20.9 billion, up 49.7% year-on-year; followed by South Korea ($7.7 billion, down 0.1%); and ASEAN ($6.5 billion, up 2.2%).

In January-February, Vietnam’s trade surplus with the U.S. and the EU soared by 36.6% and 13.9% year-on-year, respectively, to $15.2 billion and $5.3 billion.

The country’s trade deficit with China jumped 98.2% to $12.8 billion while seeing a 4.3% drop to $3.7 billion with South Korea and a 21.9% decrease to $1 billion with ASEAN.