Vietnam posts trade deficit of US$64 million in Jan-Feb
Vietnam posts trade deficit of US$64 million in Jan-Feb
Vietnam reported a trade deficit of US$768 million last month, leading to a total deficit of US$64 million in the first two months of 2019, according to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
In February, Vietnam recorded export revenue of US$13.91 billion, but spent US$14.67 billion on imports, plunging 37% and 31% over the previous month, respectively. The slide was attributed to the long Tet holiday.
In the first two months of the year, the country imported goods worth some US$36.18 billion, while its export revenue totaled US$36.11 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.8% and 4.2%, respectively.
However, the foreign direct investment sector generated a trade surplus of US$3.76 billion, while domestic companies were responsible for the deficit.
In the two-month period, there were five foreign markets generating export revenue of more than US$1 billion each for Vietnam, including the United States (US$8.18 billion), the European Union (US$6.18 billion), China (US$4.72 billion), Japan (US$2.94 billion) and South Korea (US$2.92 billion).
Particularly, exports to China edged down 16.3%.
On the other hand, imports from seven markets to Vietnam were valued at more than US$1 billion each, including South Korea, the European Union, the United States, China, ASEAN, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
