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Vietnam's 2019 trade surplus hits 4-year record

06
Jan '20

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Vietnam’s trade surplus reached a record high of $9.9 billion in 2019, according to the General Statistics Office’s monthly report, which revealed last year’s surplus was also the highest seen in the past four years, after $1.6 billion in 2016, $1.9 billion in 2017 and $6.8 billion in 2018.

The nation’s trade turnover surpassed the $500-billion mark for first time in 2019, witnessing the stronger growth of the Vietnamese-invested sector compared to foreign invested sector, according to the report.

During the year, overseas shipments earned the country $263.45 billion, up 8.1 per cent year-on-year and higher than the target set by the National Assembly and the government of 7-8 per cent.

The domestic sector contributed $82.1 billion, or 31.2 per cent, of total exports, up 18 per cent year-on-year, while the foreign-invested sector made up $181 billion, up 4.2 per cent year-on-year or 68.8 per cent of the total (down 2.5 percentage points year-on-year).

Six groups of goods posted an export value of more than $10 billion, including mobile phones and spare parts with $51.8 billion, up 5.3 per cent; computers and components ($35.6 billion or 20.4 per cent); textiles and garments ($32.6 billion or 7 per cent); machinery, equipment and parts ($18.3 billion or 12 per cent), footwear ($18.3 billion or 13 per cent) and wood and wooden goods ($10.5 billion or 18 per cent)., according to a Vietnamese newspaper report.

The US retained its position as the largest export market of the country with a turnover of $60.7 billion in 2019, marking a yearly hike of 28 per cent. It was followed by the European Union ($41.7 billion), China ($41.5 billion), ASEAN ($25.3 billion), Japan ($20.3 billion) and South Korea ($19.8 billion).

From January to December, the country’s import revenue experienced a modest yearly increase of 7 per cent, reaching $253.51 billion. It added imports mainly served export production at foreign-invested enterprises which accounted for 91.2 per cent of the total import value.

Goods categories reported a significant import turnover such as raw materials with $119.5 billion or 47 per cent of the total value; machinery, means of transport and parts ($111.7 billion, or 44 per cent) and consumer goods ($22.3 billion or 9 per cent).

China continued to be the largest import market of Vietnam with a total turnover of $75.3 billion, signifying an increase of 15 per cent. That meant Vietnam had to face an all-time high trade deficit of $33.8 billion with its neighbour.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s trade deficit with other markets such as ASEAN and South Korea experienced a slight decrease of 6 per cent at $27.5 billion and 3.2 per cent at $6.8 billion, respectively.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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