Vietnam FDI sector posts $37.9 bln trade surplus in 9 months

Foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam recorded a Jan-Sept trade surplus of $37.94 billion with an export of turnover of $343.68 billion, including crude oil.

Vietnam’s import-export turnover fell 11% year-on-year to $497.66 billion in the nine-month period, according to the General Statistics Office. The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector accounted for 69.1% of the national total.

The country posted export revenues of $259.67 billion, down 8.2% year-on-year, while imports dropped 13.8% to $237.99 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $21.68 billion, nearly triple the $6.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.

While the FDI sector made a trade surplus, the domestic sector had a trade deficit of $16.26 billion.

Vietnam’s key exports in the first nine months included electronics, computers and components worth $41.19 billion, down 1.7% year-on-year; mobile phones and components worth $39.03 billion, down 13.4%; machinery and equipment worth $40.64 billion, down 10.6%; apparel-textiles worth $25.51 billion, down 12.1%; and footwear worth $14.86 billion, down 18.2%.

Products from the manufacturing-processing industry accounted for $229.22 billion of export revenue at 88.3% of the total; followed by farm produce and forestry goods at $20.6 billion, 7.9%; fisheries at $6.64 billion, 2.6%; and fuel and natural resources at $3.21 billion, 1.2%.

The nation’s core imports were electronics, computers and components worth $63.03 billion, down 1.5% year-on-year; followed by machinery and equipment worth $30.57 billion, down 11.1%; fabric worth $9.58 billion, down 16.3%; steel-iron worth $7.53 billion, down 21.4%; and plastics worth $7.27 billion, down 25.9%.

Materials for production accounted for $223.08 billion, or 93.7% of total imports. The remaining 6.3%, or $14.91 billion, was spent on consumer goods.

China, the U.S. and South Korea were Vietnam’s biggest trade partners with turnovers of $121.3 billion, $81.1 billion and $56.3 billion in the first nine months, respectively. Other top trade partners were the ASEAN bloc with $55.3 billion, the EU with $44 billion and Japan with $33.3 billion.

China remained the biggest import market for Vietnam at $79.1 billion, while the U.S. was the biggest export market at $70.9 billion.