Vietnam posts $3.03 bln trade surplus in Jan, FDI sector $4.43 bln

Vietnam posted a trade surplus of $3.03 billion in January, while the tally for the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector was $4.43 billion, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The country’s trade surplus in the first month of 2025 was lower than $3.7 billion in the same period of 2024.

In January 2025, Vietnam earned an export revenue of $33.09 billion, down 4.3% year-on-year, and import expenditure of $30.06 billion, down 2.6%.

The GSO attributed the lower figures to the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday (Tet), leading to fewer working days.

The domestic sector made a trade deficit of $1.4 billion.

Regarding export, Vietnam’s biggest cash earners were electronics, computers and components with $6.05 billion, up 13.3% year-on-year; phones and components with $4.83 billion, down 13.2%; machinery and equipment with $3.86 billion, down 4%; apparel-textiles with $3.19 billion, up 1.8%; and footwear with $1.9 billion, down 3.7%.

The manufacturing-processing sector accounted for $29.43 billion of the country's total export, or 89%; followed by farm produce and forestry goods at $2.65 billion (8%); fisheries at $770 million (2.3%); and fuel and natural resources at $220 million (0.7%).

Regarding imports, sectors with highest import expenditures were electronics, computers and components with $9.73 billion, up 13.8% year-on-year; followed by machinery and equipment with $4 billion, up 0.1%; and fabric with $1.08 billion, down 7.9%.

Materials for production accounted for $28.26 billion, or 94% of total imports. The remaining 6%, or $1.8 billion, was spent on consumer goods.

China, U.S. remain biggest trade partners

China and the U.S. were Vietnam's biggest trade partners in January, with total values of $17.4 billion and $11.1 billion in the period, respectively. Other major partners were the ASEAN bloc with $6.8 billion, South Korea with $6.3 billion, the EU with $5.3 billion, and Japan with $3.7 billion.

Vietnam spent $11.6 billion on importing goods from China and earned $5.8 billion from exporting goods to that country, up 25.2% but down 2.2% year-on-year, respectively. China was Vietnam’s biggest import market and second-biggest export market.

Exports to the U.S. fell 2.1% year-on-year to $9.8 billion and imports from the U.S. rose 7.5% to $1.3 billion. The U.S. was Vietnam’s largest export destination.