Vietnam’s Jan-Oct trade surplus hits $1.9bn on strong exports by foreign-invested firms
Vietnam’s Jan-Oct trade surplus hits $1.9bn on strong exports by foreign-invested firms
Vietnam logged a trade surplus in the Jan-Oct period despite a massive deficit in the domestic sector thanks to strong exports by foreign-invested businesses, data released Monday by the trade ministry showed.
Total exports by the domestic sector in the ten-month period topped US$40.6 billion, a 12.9 percent annual increase, while imports jumped 12 percent year on year to $52.5 billion, according to a report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
In the meantime, foreign-invested enterprises posted an export turnover of $82.5 billion, up 13.6 percent from the same period last year, while imports rose 10.7 percent to $68.7 billion.
The domestic sector thus suffered an $11.9 billion trade deficit, but the economy as a whole enjoyed a $1.9 billion trade surplus due to the $13.8 billion surplus in the foreign sector.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai acknowledged the contribution of the foreign sector to the trade surplus at a press meeting on Monday, adding, however, that the sector’s exports were on a downward trend.
While the foreign sector reported 30 percent growth in exports last year, the pace slowed significantly during the ten-month period in 2014, Hai said.
Vietnam’s exports are driven by mobile phones and spare parts, but shipments of these commodities have also been slowing down, he noted.
In 2012 exports of mobile phones and parts expanded by 120 percent, but slipped to only 45 percent one year later, he elaborated.
The pace slackened to a mere 6 percent during Jan-Oct this year from the same period in 2013.
“Vietnam could possibly return to a trade deficit next year, with the deficit totaling $6-8 billion,” Hai predicted.
Earlier last month, Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang said Vietnam would enjoy a $1.5 billion surplus in 2014, according to newswire Vietnam News Agency.
Vietnam’s shipments are projected to top $148-150 billion while imports will reach $146.5 billion this year, Hoang said during a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on October 2.
The latest prediction far surpasses the ministry’s forecast of $500 million in July, and the surplus would be the third in a row for the Southeast Asian country, which posted its first in two decades in 2012.
Vietnam reported a $863 million trade surplus last year, according to the General Statistics Office.
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