According to data from the General Department of Customs, in 2019, the total import-export turnover of all types of goods between Vietnam and China reached 517.26 billion USD, up by 7.6 per cent compared to 2018. Of the figure, the country’s exports of goods to China reached 264.19 billion USD, up by 8.4 per cent and imports of goods from China reached 253.07 billion USD, up by 6.8 per cent. Thus, the trade surplus amounted to 11.12 billion USD, the highest ever, up by 62.9 per cent compared to the previous year.

Among more than 200 countries and territories having import and export activities with Vietnam, China continued to be the largest market and 2019 was the second consecutive year the turnover between the two countries reached over 100 billion USD. Specifically, in 2019, the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and China reached 116.866 billion USD, of which Vietnam's exports were 41.414 billion USD and imports were 75.452 billion USD. Compared to 2018, the import-export turnover between Vietnam and China increased by more than 10 billion USD (the figure in 2018 was 106,706 billion USD).

Thus, China alone accounted for 22.6 per cent of the country's total import-export turnover in 2019. Especially, the country’s imports of goods from China accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the country's total import turnover. However, the increase in turnover was mainly from a sharp increase in imports from China, while Vietnam's exports to this neighboring country increased insignificantly.

In 2019, Vietnam's import value from China increased by 10.014 billion USD, while the country’s exports to China only increased by nearly 150 million USD. Therefore, the trade balance of our country with China had a huge deficit of more than 34 billion USD.

In the history of foreign trade relations of Vietnam, China was the first trading partner with the trade exchange of over 100 billion USD. This milestone was set in 2018 as mentioned above. Specifically, in 2018, Vietnam's total export turnover to China reached 41,268 billion USD, an increase of 5,864 billion USD compared to 2017, with a growth rate of 16.6 per cent. Meanwhile, the import value from this neighboring country reached 65,438 billion USD, up by 6,846 billion USD, equivalent to an increase of nearly 11,7 per cent. Thus, the total trade turnover of the two countries reached 106,706 billion USD, an increase of 12.71 billion USD compared to 2017. In 2018, the Chinese market alone accounted for 22.23 per cent of total import-export turnover of the whole country.