Vietnam trade turnover falls 17% to $46.56 bln in Jan

Vietnam’s total import and export turnover in January reached $46.56 billion, down 25% year-on-year and 17.3% from the previous month, partly due to fewer working hours given the Lunar New Year holiday.

The country earned $25.08 billion from exports in the month, down 21.3% year-on-year; while spending on imports fell 28.9% to $21.48 billion. As a result, it posted a trade surplus of $3.6 billion, nearly double that of January 2022, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

The foreign-invested sector made a trade surplus of $4.64 billion (including crude oil) after exporting $18.64 billion of goods, down 19% year-on-year; and importing $14 billion, down 30.4%.

The domestic sector recorded a trade deficit of $1.04 billion having imported goods worth $7.48 billion, down 24.9% year-on-year; and exported goods worth $6.44 billion, down 27.1%.

In January, Vietnam recorded seven goods with export revenues exceeding $1 billion each. Mobile phones and spare parts remained the biggest cash earner with a revenue of $4 billion, down 18.6% year-on-year; followed by electronics, computers, and spare parts with $3.7 billion, down 11.5%; and machines and equipment with $2.8 billion, down 25.2%.

Other key products included apparel and textiles goods with $2.5 billion, down 30.7% year-on-year; footwear with $1.6 billion, down 17.7%; wood and wooden products with $1.1 billion, down 29.8%; and transportation vehicles and spare parts with $1 billion, down 2.1%.

The country earned $22.32 billion from manufacturing and processing industry exports, down 21.4% year-on-year, accounting for 89% of the total.

Other major exports included agricultural and forestry goods with 7.6% of the total, fisheries with 2.4%, and fuel and natural resources with 1%.

Electronics, computers, and spare parts were the key import products with $4.8 billion, down 34.9% year-on-year; followed by machines and equipment with $2.2 billion, down 46.3%; and mobile phones and spare parts with $1 billion, down 50.9%.

Materials for production cost $19.97 billion, down 29.8% year-on-year, accounting for 93% of import expenditure; followed by consumption goods with $1.51 billion, down 15.8%, accounting for 7% of the total.

China, U.S. biggest trade partners

China was Vietnam's biggest trade partner in January with a turnover of $12.8 billion. Vietnam exported goods worth $4.7 billion to the northern neighbor, up 19.1% year-on-year; and imported goods worth $8.1 billion, down 27.3%.

The U.S. was in second place with $8.6 billion as Vietnam gained $7.6 billion from exports, down 24.5% year-on-year; and spent $1 billion on imports, down 5.5%.

In terms of Vietnam’s export revenue, the U.S. topped the list with $7.6 billion, followed by China with $4.7 billion, the EU with $3 billion, and ASEAN with $2.4 billion.

Regarding imports, Vietnam’s biggest partners were China with $8.1 billion, South Korea with $4.2 billion, ASEAN with $3.7 billion, and Japan with $1.8 billion.