U.S. emerges as VN’s biggest importer in Jan-Aug
U.S. emerges as VN’s biggest importer in Jan-Aug
The United States became Vietnam’s largest market in the first eight months of this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Figures of the GSO under the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed Vietnamese shipments to the U.S. in January-August increased nearly 20% against the year-earlier period to more than US$22 billion. The European Union (EU) followed with more than US$20 billion, up over 12% year-on-year, the Vietnam News Agency reports.
The period saw exports to China rising by 5.6% year-on-year to over US$10 billion and South Korea by more than 16% to over US$5 billion. However, shipments to ASEAN markets fell 3% to US$12 billion and those to Japan edged down 5% to over US$9 billion.
According to the GSO, Vietnam posted goods export revenue of around US$14.5 billion in August, up 2.3% month-on-month and 9.5% compared to the same period a year ago. Of which, foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises accounted for more than US$10 billion, increasing 1.7%, and domestic firms made up over US$4 billion, up 5.4% year-on-year.
Merchandise exports in the first eight months of this year amounted to more than US$106 billion, a year-on-year 9% increase. The FDI sector contributed nearly US$75 billion (including crude oil), nearly 15% higher than the same period last year, and domestic firms accounted for nearly US$32 billion, down 2.5% year-on-year.
Data of the GSO indicated goods with high outbound sales growth in the period included phones and phone parts worth nearly US$20 billion, up over 31% year-on-year; apparel US$15 billion, up nearly 11%; computers and computer parts US$9.9 billion, up around 52%; and footwear US$8 billion, up 21%.
However, revenues from other export products declined in January-August with seafood dropping nearly 17% year-on-year to US$4 billion, vehicles and vehicle parts slid over 7% to US$3.6 billion, and rubber products dipped more than 10% to US$921 million.
In August, imports stood at US$14.6 billion, down 0.5% month-on-month and 18.7% year-on-year. Despite the fall last month, imports in the first eight months were estimated at US$109.9 billion, up 16.4% versus the year-earlier period.
Of the total figure in January-August, local firms spent US$44.7 billion on imports, increasing 7.7% over the same period last year, and foreign-invested enterprises registered the remainder, up 23.2%.
In spite of foreign-invested firms’ trade surplus of US$9.4 billion in the first eight months, Vietnam ran a trade deficit of US$3.6 billion in the period as local enterprises’ trade deficit jumped 44% to US$13 billion. Vietnam’s trade deficit with China was US$22.3 billion in the period.
However, the overall trade deficit was 3.4% of total exports in the period, below the 5% approved by the National Assembly for this year.
Commodities with high import growth in January-August included parts for the automotive industry with an 80.2% year-on-year rise to US$3.8 billion, and machines and equipment with 33.4% growth to US$18.9 billion.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Trade forecast Vietnam could face a trade deficit of up to US$6 billion this year after three years of enjoying a trade surplus due to strong growth in import of materials, machines and equipment for production while exports would not experience a robust increase.
