In the first 5 months of 2023, Vietnam’s trade-in-goods totaled USD260.79 billion in value terms, 15.3% downwards as compared same period last year. Which, total merchandise export value shrunk 12.3% to US dollars 135.22 billion and the total merchandise imports value decreased 18.4% to USD125.57 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance during this period was in the surplus of US dollars 9.65 billion.

Trade data disseminated recently by Vietnam Customs announced that the total value of exportation and importation by foreign direct invested (FDI) traders reached USD 36.58 billion in total for May of 2023, up 0.8% on a month-on-month basis. FDI’s export value of USD19.79 billion and FDI’s import value of  $16.78 billion led to a trade surplus of USD3.01 billion.

For the Jan-May period, trade-in-goods by FDI traders totaled $180.59 billion, down 15.1% on a year-on-year basis. The total value of FDI exportation was $98.91 billion, which decreased by 12.2%. On the import side, the total value of those companies was $81.68 billion, down 18.3%. As a result, FDI’s trade balance was in surplus of $17.23 billion.

Export: in May of 2023, total merchandise exports increased month-on-month due to upwards of the following products: Computers, electrical products, spare parts and components thereof (up $485 million); textiles and garments (up $376 million); fruits and vegetables (up $265 million).

 Exports decreased by USD18.88 billion to USD135.22 billion year-on-year. The main products, which contributed to the reduction, were: Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down USD5 billion); textiles and garments (down USD2.33 billion); wood and wooden products (down USD2.06 billion); computers, electrical products, spare parts and components thereof (down USD2.03 billion); foot-wears (down USD1.38 billion).

Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs show that the 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 5 months of 2023 were: Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; Machines, equipment tools and instruments; Textiles and garments.

Export of telephones, mobile phones, and parts thereof decreased by 19.9%  to USD20.19 billion, year-on-year. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were China (down 15.4% year-on-year to USD4.74 billion); the United States (down 34.3% year-on-year to USD3.6 billion); the EU (27) (up 9.7% year-on-year to USD 2.98 billion); the Republic of Korea (down 46.9% year-on-year to USD1.3 billion).

Export of computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof decreased  9% year-on-year to USD20.51 billion. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up 2.8% year-on-year to USD 5.96 billion); China (down 0.8% year-on-year to USD4.62 billion); EU (27) (down 30.7% year-on-year to USD2.16 billion); the Republic of Korea (up 22.3% year-on-year to USD1.91 billion).    

Export of machine, equipments, tools and instruments decreased by  5.6% to USD16.48 billion,year-on-year. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 14.4% on a year-on-year basis, to USD 6.63 billion); EU (27) (up by 3.6% to USD 2.34 billion); China (up by 3.6% to USD 1.24 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 2.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.12 billion); Japan (down by 2.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.1 billion).

Export of textiles and garments decreased by 15.6% to USD12.65 billion year-on-year. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down 27.1% year-on-year to USD5.5 billion); EU (27) (down 6.2% year-on-year to USD1.56 billion); Japan (up 6.6% on year-on-year, to USD1.42 billion); the Republic of Korea (down by 2% on year-on-year to USD1.14 billion).

Import: Growth in total merchandise imports of  May of 2023 was due to the upturns of the commodities as follows: Machine, equipment, tools and instruments (up USD347 million); crude oil( up USD231 million); petroleum products (up USD111 million); plastics (up USD111 million).

 On a year-on-year basis, the reduction in imports to USD125.57 billion was mainly contributed by the downturns of the following products: Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD5.88 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD4.92 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD2.39 billion); plastics (down by USD1.82 billion); iron and steels (down by USD1.66 billion).

Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs show that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 5 months of 2023 were: Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; Machine, equipment, tools and instruments; Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; Textile, leather and foot-wears materials and auxiliaries group.

Import of computers, electrical products, spare parts and components thereof decreased by 13.5%  to USD31.57 billion, on a year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity originated, were the Republic of Korea (down by 3% to USD10.26 billion); China (down by 19.9% to USD8.35 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 20.8% to USD3.98 billion); Japan (down by 13% to USD2.54 billion).

 Import of machines, equipment, tools and instruments fell 13% to USD16.07 billion on a year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity originated, were China (down by 13.6% to USD 8.35 billion); the Republic of Korea (down by 18.7% to USD 2.32 billion); Japan (down by 5.6% to USD 1.62 billion).

Import of textile, leather and foot-wear materials and auxiliaries group fell 20.7%  to USD9.76 billion, on a year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity originated, was China (down by 20.4% to USD3.92 billion); the Republic of Korea (down by 18% to USD690 million); Taiwan (China) (down by 33.6% to USD653 million); United States (down by 11.4% to USD512 million).

Import of telephones, mobile phones, and parts thereof decreased 66.2% to USD3 billion on a year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity originated, was China (down by 32.2% to USD2.52 billion).   

For Jan-May period, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia totaled USD169.20 billion in value terms, down 15.3% as compared to the same period of 2022. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America reached USD52.86 billion and decreased by 18.9%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD29.29 billion, down by 10.2%; Oceania: USD6.25 billion, down by 10.6% and Africa: USD3.19 billion, down by 5.5% in comparison with the same period of 2022.

 In the first 5 months of 2023, 4 exporting markets of Vietnam with a turnover of over USD 9 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD36.32 billion); China (reached USD20.32 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD9.19 billion) and Japan (reached USD9.11 billion).

On the import side, four partners exporting goods to Vietnam with a turnover of over 7 billion were as follows: China (reached USD41.19 billion); the Republic of Korea (reached USD20.12 billion); Japan (reached USD8.35 billion); Taiwan (reached USD7.38 billion).

T.Huong

Source: Vitic/Vietnam Customs