According to the preliminary statistics figures of the General Department of Customs, in September of 2019, the country imported 593,757 tons of petroleum, equivalent to 359.61 million USD, with the average price of 606 USD per ton, down by 32 per cent in volume, 29 per cent in turnover but increased by 4 per cent in price compared to August of 2019. Compared to September of 2018, it was down by 15 per cent in volume, 28 per cent in turnover and 16 per cent in price.

In the first 3 quarters of 2019, the country imported 6.88 million tons of petroleum, equivalent to 4.21 billion USD, with the average price of 611 USD per ton, down by 26 per cent in volume, 33 per cent in turnover and 9 per cent in price over the same period of 2018.

The country’s imports of petroleum from Malaysia market reached 1.96 million tons, equivalent to 1.67 billion USD, the average price was 594.3 USD per ton, accounting for 28.5 per cent of the country's total petroleum import volume and accounted for 27.7 per cent of the total turnover, down by 26.5 per cent in volume, down by 30.4 per cent in turnover and down by 5.4 per cent in price over the same period of 2018.

South Korea was the second largest market supplying petroleum to Vietnam with 1.72 million tons, equivalent to 1.12 billion USD, at 651.6 USD per ton, accounting for 25 per cent of the total volume and accounting for 26.6 per cent of the total import turnover of petroleum of the country, a decrease of 26.2 per c ent in volume, 34.5 per cent in turnover and down by 11.3 per cent in price over the same period last year.

The third largest market was Singapore. The country’s imports of petroleum from Singapore also decreased in volume, value and price, with a decrease of 28.6 per cent, 36.7 per cent and 11.4 per cent, respectively over the same period last year, reaching 1.48 million tons, equivalent to 844.11 million USD, with the price of 568.8 USD per ton, accounting for 21.6 per cent of the country's total imports of petroleum and accounting for 20.1 per cent of the total value.

The next was the Chinese market with 1.1 million tons, equivalent to 689.76 million USD, the import price reached 629.8 USD per ton, accounting for 16 per cent of the total volume and total turnover; equivalent to the import volume in the same period last year, but down by 8.3 per cent in both turnover and price over the same period last year.

The imports of petroleum from Russia and Thailand in the first 9 months of this year decreased sharply compared to the same period in 2018; in which the imports from Thailand decreased by 45.8 per cent in volume and 50 per cent in turnover over the same period last year, reaching only 516,251 tons, equivalent to 321.33 million USD. Petroleum imports from Russia decreased by 80.1 per cent in volume and by 85.8 per cent in turnover, reaching 12,007 tons, equivalent to 7.29 million USD.

Particularly, petroleum imported from Hong Kong market reached only 563 tons, equivalent to 0.26 million USD but compared to the same period last year, it increased sharply by 452 per cent in volume and 325.7per cent in turnover.