Philippines is currently the 5th largest trading partner of Vietnam in ASEAN, after Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Thailand has been one of Vietnam's potential export markets in recent years.

In the recent years, Vietnam - Philippines bilateral trade has developed strongly with the two-way trade turnover in 2018 reached over 4.7 billion USD, an increase of 18 per cent compared to 2017. In which, exports reached 3.46 billion USD, up by 22.21 per cent compared to 2017.

In the first quarter of 2019, Vietnam's exports to the Philippines reached 976.36 million USD, increasing by 30.7 per cent compared to the same period of 2018. In March of 2019, the country’s exports to this market reached 392.37 million USD, an increase of 88.84 per cent compared with February 2019 and of 54.34 per cent compared to March of 2018.

In the basket of Vietnamese goods exported to the Philippines in the period, rice was the leading commodity, accounting for 22.1 per cent of the proportion with 215.83 million USD, equivalent to 549,000 tons, 3.2 times higher (ie an increase of 210.25 per cent) in volume and 2.2 times (ie 172.47 per cent increase) in value compared to the same period last year. The average export price was 392.84 USD per ton, down by 12.18 per cent.

In March of 2019 alone, the Philippines also imported from Vietnam 234,500 tons of rice worth of 90.5 million USD, increased by 2.2 times in volume (ie, 154.83 per cent) and by 2.2 times in value (an increase of 164.57 per cent) compared with February of 2019. The average price was at 385.81 USD per ton, an increase of 3.82 per cent month – on – month and by 65.21 times in volume (ie, 6412.55 per cent increase) and by 62.45 times in value (ie 6145.92 per cent) year –on – year. The average price decreases by 4.09 per cent.

Clinker and cement ranked second with the export volume of over 2 million tons, worth of 102 million USD, up by 24.42 per cent in volume and 44.35 per cent in value over the same period last year. The average export price was 50.36 USD per ton, up by 16.03 per cent. In March 2019 alone, Vietnam also exported 766,100 tons of clinker and cement, worth of 38.62 million USD to the Philippines with the average export price of 50.41 USD per ton, increased by 78.93 per cent in quantity, 75.84 per cent in value and the average price decreased by 1.73 per cent compared with the same period last year. As compared with March of 2018, the quantity, value and average price increased by 34.3 per cent; 54.03 per cent and 14.7 per cent, respectively.

The next ones were phones, machinery and equipment and spare parts ... In general, in the first quarter of2019, the exports of almost all items to the Philippines saw increase, and these items accounted for 62.5 per cent of the total. In addition to rice with outstanding growth, some other product groups also saw strong growth in export turnover such as: iron and steel - increased by 2.2 times in volume (or by 172.37 per cent) and by 2.1 times in value (or by 120.98 per cent), with an export volume of 88,600 tons worth of 42.9 million USD; ordinary metals, products and cameras, camcorders and components all increased by 2.1 times (135.82 per cent and 135.87 per cent respectively), reaching 15.2 million USD and 7.84 million USD respectively.

On the other hand, in the first quarter of 2019, the Philippines’ fertilizer imports from Vietnam decreased by 96.29 per cent in volume and 96.23 per cent in value, to only 633 tons, worth of 201,600 USD, although the average export price increased by 1.64 per cent over the same period last year to reach 318.49 USD per ton.