Vietnam FDI sector posts $27.8 bln trade surplus in Jan-July

Foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam recorded a trade turnover of $258.63 billion, including crude oil, resulting in a trade surplus of $27.83 billion in the first seven months of this year.

Overall, Vietnam’s export-import turnover fell 13.9% year-on-year to $374.23 billion in the seven-month period, according to the General Statistics Office. The FDI sector accounted for 69% of the country's total figure.

Vietnam posted export revenue of $194.73 billion, down 10.6%, while import expenditure dropped 17.1% to $179.5 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $15.23 billion, nearly 12 times higher than the $1.3 billion recorded in January-July 2022.

The FDI sector posted a trade surplus of $27.83 billion, including crude oil, while the domestic sector had a trade deficit of $12.6 billion.

Vietnam’s key export in the first seven months included electronics, computers and components worth $30.79 billion, down 3% year-on-year; mobile phones and components worth $27.8 billion, down 18.3%; machinery and equipment worth $22.9 billion, down 10.4%; apparel-textiles worth $18.93 billion, down 15.1%; and footwear worth $11.67 billion, down 17.1%.

Products from the manufacturing-processing industry accounted for $171.5 billion of export revenue at 88.1%; followed by farm produce and forestry goods at $15.75 billion, or 8.1%; fisheries at $4.95 billion, or 2.5%; and fuel and natural resources at $2.1 billion, or 1.3%.

Vietnam’s core imports were electronics, computers and components worth $45.38 billion, down 9.4% year-on-year; followed by machinery and equipment worth $22.65 billion, down 14.6%; fabric worth $7.42 billion, down 18.6%; steel-iron worth $5.56 billion, down 30.6%; and plastics worth $5.46 billion, down 30.9%.

Materials for production accounted for $168.3 billion, or 93.8% of total import expenditure. The remaining 6.2%, or $11.2 billion, was spent on consumer goods.

In January-July, China, the U.S., and ASEAN were Vietnam’s biggest trade partners with turnovers of $90.2 billion, $60.5 billion and $42.2 billion, respectively. Other top trade partners were South Korea with $41.5 billion, the EU with $33.6 billion, and Japan with $25.1 billion.

China remained the biggest import market for Vietnam at $58.6 billion, while the U.S. was the biggest export destination at $52.4 billion.