Vietnam’s FDI sector posts $34 bln trade surplus in 8 months

Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam recorded a trade turnover of $301.36 billion, including crude oil, resulting in a trade surplus of $34.21 billion in the first eight months of this year.

Overall, Vietnam’s import-export turnover fell 13.1% year-on-year to $435.23 billion in the eight-month period, according to the General Statistics Office. The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector accounted for 69.2% of the national total.

Vietnam posted export revenues of $227.71 billion, down 10% year-on-year, while imports dropped 16.2% to $207.52 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $20.19 billion, nearly four times the $5.26 billion recorded in the same period last year. While the FDI sector made a trade surplus, the domestic sector had a trade deficit of $14.02 billion.

Vietnam’s key exports in the first eight months included electronics, computers and components worth $36.15 billion, down 1.5% year-on-year; mobile phones and components worth $33.94 billion, down 15.4%; machinery and equipment worth $26.96 billion, down 10.3%; apparel-textiles worth $22.35 billion, down 15%; and footwear worth $13.49 billion, down 17.6%.

Products from the manufacturing-processing industry accounted for $201.31 billion of export revenue at 88.4% of the total; followed by farm produce and forestry goods at $17.87 billion, or 7.9%; fisheries at $5.71 billion, or 2.5%; and fuel and natural resources at $2.82 billion, or 1.2%.

The nation’s core imports were electronics, computers and components worth $53.83 billion, down 6% year-on-year; followed by machinery and equipment worth $26.68 billion, down 13%; fabric worth $8.39 billion, down 18.6%; steel-iron worth $6.45 billion, down 27.2%; and plastics worth $6.24 billion, down 29.9%.

Materials for production accounted for $194.65 billion, or 93.8% of total imports. The remaining 6.2%, or $12.87 billion, was spent on consumer goods.

China, the U.S. and ASEAN were Vietnam’s biggest trade partners with turnovers of $103.9 billion, $71.6 billion and $48.8 billion in the first eight months of 2023, respectively. Other top trade partners were South Korea with $48.3 billion, the EU with $39.2 billion and Japan with $28.9 billion.

China remained the biggest import market for Vietnam at $68.1 billion, while the U.S. was the biggest export market at $62.3 billion.