Vietnam’s manufacturing expands slightly in April

Vietnam's industrial production expanded by 0.5% year-on-year in April, but fell 1.8% in the first four months of the year amid weaker global demand, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said Saturday.

The manufacturing sector grew 3.6% in April from March which saw a 1.6% decline year-on-year.

In the first four months of last year, the sector expanded by 7.8% compared with the same period in 2021, which saw several Covid-19 outbreaks in the country.

Between January and April, retail of consumer goods and services is estimated at VND2,007 trillion ($85.5 billion) up 12.8% year-on-year.

Vietnam’s exports in the four months were estimated at $108.57 billion, down 11.8% from a year earlier. In April alone, performance was around $27.54 billion, down 7.3% compared with March and 17.1% against April last year.

Also in the first fourth months, import spending was estimated at $102.22 billion, down 15.4% year-on-year.

The period’s trade surplus reached $6.35 billion, much higher than the $2.35 billion in the same period last year. Of the surplus, the domestic economic sector had a trade deficit of $8.04 billion but the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil, secured a trade surplus of $14.39 billion.

The U.S. was Vietnam's largest export market in the January-April period with $28.4 billion in spending, while China - with $33.3 billion in turnover - was the largest supplier for Vietnam's imports, according to the GSO.

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.34% in April compared with March. However, the CPI in the four months increased by 3.84% year-on-year.

The country welcomed more than 3.68 million foreign arrivals in the period, equal to 19.2 times that of last year but just 61.7% compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.