Data of the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that the nation’s total export and import turnover in May was US$36.4 billion, a 4.3% rise against the previous month. This took total import-export turnover in the first five months of 2017 to nearly US$162.5 billion, up 21.5% against the year-earlier period.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector posted total import-export turnover of US$106.5 billion in the first five months, increasing by 23.7% or US$20.4 billion compared to the same period last year. In particular, the sector exported US$56.66 billion worth of goods in January-May, a 20% increase against the same period last year, and imported over US$49.84 billion worth of goods, a 28.1% year-on-year increase. Therefore, its trade surplus was upwards of US$6.8 billion in the first five months of 2017.

However, the domestic sector posted a trade deficit of US$2.13 billion in May, bringing its January-May trade deficit to US$9.31 billion.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, China remained the country’s biggest trading partner with import-export turnover in the five-month period totaling US$32.76 billion, up 23.6% over the same period last year. Meanwhile, South Korea emerged as the second biggest trading partner of the country with bilateral trade soaring 45.2% year-on-year to nearly US$24 billion.

The U.S. fell one notch, becoming Vietnam’s third largest trading partner with total turnover of US$19.96 billion, up 12.9%. The EU came in fourth with bilateral trade reaching US$19.66 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%.

In January-May, Vietnam had trade surpluses with only three countries among the top 10 trading partners. The U.S. remained the key market for Vietnamese exporters, with a trade surplus of US$12.07 billion in favor of Vietnam, followed by the EU with US$10.03 billion and Japan with US$152 million.

In the first five months, Vietnam had the largest trade deficit with South Korea, with US$12.96 billion. China followed with US$11.5 billion, slipping from its No.1 spot in previous years, and Taiwan with US$3.9 billion.

The period saw 17 of 54 commodities having import turnover of more than US$1 billion each.

Imports of ten key commodities totaled nearly US$54 billion, accounting for 65.5% of the country’s total imports in the year to end-May.

Specifically, imports of cashew nuts increased by a sharp 125.3% over the same period last year, crude oil 120.3%, rubber 90.1%, vegetables 79.1%, metal junk 79.1%, coal 58.3% and cotton 49.9%.

Source: thesaigontimes.vn