The FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US $ 101.6 billion, went up by 15.2%,contributed 10.1 percentage points and gained US $ 94.4 billion (excluding crude oil), by 16.7%. If the factor of inflation were excluded, export turnovers in 2014 would increase by 9.1%. The major groups of export goods still belonged to the FDI sector: export turnovers of telephone and components accounted for 99.6% of the country’s total export turnovers of this group; textiles accounted for 59.4%; shoes and sandals represented 77%; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts took 89.7%; electronics, computers and components accounted for 98.8%.

About the structure of export goods, the group of heavy industrial and mineral goods accounted for 44.3% of the total export turnovers, of which telephones and components was estimated to reach US $ 24.1 billion, increase by 13.4% and account for 16.1%. The group of light industrial goods took 38.6%. The group of agricultural and forestry products held 11.9%. The aquatic products accounted for 5.2%.

About the export market in 2014, the United States continued to be the biggest market of Viet Nam with an estimated export turnover of US $ 28.5 billion, a rise of 19.6% compared with 2013. Following markets were the EU with US $ 27.9 billion, a rise of 14.7%, ASEAN with an estimate of US $ 19 billion, an increase of 3.1%.

Import: This year’s import turnovers was estimated to reach US $ 148 billion, rose 12.1% from the previous year, of which the FDI sector reached US $ 84.5 billion, went up by 13.6%; the domestic economic sector gained US $ 63.5 billion, increased by 10.2%.

Regarding the structure of import goods this year, the group of materials for production held the largest proportion of 91.2%, of which the machinery, equipment, tools, means of transport and components accounted for 37.6%; materials and fuels took 53.6%. The group of consumer items held 8.8%.

About the import market in 2014, China was still the largest import market of Viet Nam with an estimate turnover of US $ 43.7 billion, a rise of 18.2% from the same period in 2013. The whole year’s trade deficit from this market was estimated to reach US $ 28.9 billion, 21.8% growth over the previous year. The ASEAN market reached an estimate of US $ 23.1 billion. The EU market gained US $ 8.9 billion.

As estimated, trade surplus in 2014 was about US $ 2 billion, of which the FDI sector had a trade surplus of US $ 17 billion, higher than the last year’s US $ 13.7 billion; the domestic economic sector had a trade deficit of US $ 15 billion, higher than 2013’s US $ 13.7 billion.

Export and import of services: Service export turnover in 2014 reached an estimate of US $ 11 billion, rose 2.8% from 2013, of which travel services reached US $ 7.3 billion, accounted for 66% of the total turnovers and did not have much change compared to the previous year. Service import value this year reached US $ 15 billion, a rise of 5.6% over 2013, of which transport services and insurance of import goods gained US $ 8.1 billion, accounted for 54% of the total turnovers and grew by 12.6%. Services trade deficit in 2014 was about US $ 4 billion.

Price indexes

December’s CPI fell by 0.24% from the previous month; this was the only month with decreased CPI in the past ten year[2] (Not including 2008 – the year was strongly affected by the global economic recession). In eleven major groups of goods and services, there were two groups with a sharp decrease:housing and constructional materials reduced by 0.99%; transport by 3.09% (contributing 0.27% to the general decrease of CPI). Groups of goods and services kept prices relatively stable with an insignificant increase: catering and related services raised by 0.08%; medicines and health services by 0.03%; education by 0.03%; culture, entertainment and tourist by 0.07% respectively.

CPI in December 2014 went up by 1.84% from the same period in 2013. Average CPI in 2014 rose 4.09% compared to that in 2013, a relatively low increase in the past ten years. In 2014, average CPI rose 0.15% per month.

PPI of products from the agricultural, forestry and fishing sector in 2014 had an increase of 4.62 % over the previous year, of which PPI of farming items increased by 3.85%, forestry goods by 8.28% and fishing products by 6.64 %.

PPI of industrial production this year grew by 3.26% from the previous year, of which PPI of mineral products went up by 8.29%; the manufacturing by 1.09%; power and power generation and supply by 10.19%, water by 4.47%.

Price indexes of fuels and materials for production in 2014 increased by 3.39% compared with 2013, of which sectors had price indexes of fuels and materials for production with a high growth including: power, gas, warm water, steam and air-conditioning increased by 6.71%; mining and quarrying by 5.47%; medicines and pharmaceutical products by 5.41%; water supply and waste treatment by 5.21%.

Transport charge indexes in 2014 rose 3.13% from the previous year, of which charge of passenger carriage grew by 2.43%; cargo carriage by 4.06%. Price indexes of rail transport services in 2014 increased by 0.71% over 2013; bus and road transport services by 5.52%; waterway transport services by 1.82%.

Export price indexes in 2014 rose 0.79% against the previous year, of which items with increased export price indexes included: pepper with a rise of 14.45%; vegetables: 9.88%; aquatic products: 7.43%; chemicals: 6.24%; chemical products: 6% respectively. Items had sharply reduced price indexes as follows: rubber with a decrease of 26.93%; rubber products: 12.63%; electric wire and cables: 10.69%; steel: 9.59%; plastic: 7.58%; petrol: 6.34% respectively.

Import price indexes this year fell by 1.02% from the previous year, of which items had much decreased import price indexes such as: fertilizer: 13.53% decrease; rubber: 10.48%; wheat: 8.29%; petrol: 4.38%; chemicals: 4.28%; textile fibre and thread: 4.01% respectively.

Source: General statistics office