AsemconnectVietnam - In August of this year, the total import and export turnover of goods of Vietnam was estimated at 60.92 billion USD, up by 6.7% over the previous month, showed the latest statistics figures of the General Statistics Office.

Exports of goods increased slightly month – on – month in August
Regarding commodity exports, the export turnover of goods in August of 2023 was estimated at 32.37 billion USD, up by 7.7% over the previous month. In which, the export turnover of the domestic economic sector reached 8.43 billion USD, up by 8.7%; while the export turnover of the FDI sector (including crude oil) reached 23.94 billion USD, up by 7.3%.
Regarding the structure of export products in the first eight months of 2023, the exports of the group of fuels and minerals were estimated at 2.82 billion USD, accounting for 1.2%; the exports of the group of processed industrial products were estimated at 201.31 billion USD, accounting for 88.4%; the exports of the group of agricultural and forestry products were estimated at 17.87 billion USD, accounting for 7.9%; and the exports of seafood products were estimated at 5.71 billion USD, accounting for 2.5%.
Exports fell year – on – year in August
In the report reviewing economic developments in August of 2023 just published by the World Bank in Vietnam, economic indicators showed that export and import activities of goods continued to decrease by 7.3% and 8.1%, respectively in August compared to the same period last year. The drop in exports was due to a decline in exports of key manufactured products, including smart phones (-14.6%), machinery (-17.9%), textiles (-17.8%) and shoes sandals (-19.3%). The decrease in exports directly affects the import of input materials, leading to a decrease in imports of textiles and garments, electrical equipment, and machinery.
"However, monthly import and export activities have improved continuously since May, suggesting that the decline in export activities may have bottomed out" - the report stated.
Imports and exports in the first eight months of 2023
In the first 8 months of 2023, the total import-export turnover of goods reached 435.23 billion USD, down by 13.1% over the same period last year.
In the last 4 consecutive months, the export turnover of goods has grown at a higher rate than the previous month. This showed that businesses' trade promotion and market search solutions have brought positive results.
However, due to a deep decrease in the first months of the year, in the first eight months of 2023, Vietnam’s export turnover of goods was estimated at 227.71 billion USD, down by 10% compared to the same period last year.
In the first eight months of 2023, there were 30 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 91.8% of total export turnover (there were 5 export products with over 10 billion USD, accounting for 58.4%).
The import turnover of goods in August of 2023 was estimated at 28.55 billion USD, up by 5.7% over the previous month. In which, the import value of the domestic economic sector reached 10.25 billion USD, down by 1.4%; while the import value of the FDI sector reached 18.3 billion USD, up by 10.2%. As comparison to the same period last year, the import turnover of goods in August decreased by 8.3%, of which the import value of the domestic economic sector decreased by 1.7%; and the import value of the foreign-invested sector decreased by 11.6%.
Import turnover of goods has also increased continuously in recent months with the main commodity group of materials for production. With such an increase, the export of goods can be expected to be more prosperous in the coming time.
In the first eight months of 2023, the import turnover of goods was estimated at 207.52 billion USD, down by 16.2% over the same period last year.
In the first eight months of 2023, there were 37 imported items with a value of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 89.9% of the total import turnover (there were 2 imported items with the import value of over 10 billion USD, accounting for 38.8%).
Leading export items in the first eight months of 2023
According to the General Department of Customs, by the end of August, the whole country had 2 export commodity groups with turnover growth of more than 1 billion USD compared to the same period in 2022, including vegetables and fruits increased by 1.35 billion USD, means of transport and spare parts increased by 1.22 billion USD. The exports of rice also increased by 832 million USD.
The above product groups were the bright spots of exports, because in the first 8 months of the year, many key product groups had a sharp decrease in turnover compared to the same period last year.
The data from the General Department of Customs recorded that up to 11 export commodity groups decreased by over 500 million USD compared to the same period last year.
Of which, 6 groups decreased by "billion dollars" including phones of all types and components decreased by 6.21 billion USD; textiles and garments decreased by 3.79 billion USD; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts decreased by 3.23 billion USD; footwear of all kinds decreased by 3 billion USD; wood and wood products decreased by 2.7 billion USD; seafood products decreased by 1.83 billion USD.
The remaining groups were computers, electronic products and components, down by 760 million USD; textile fibers of all kinds decreased by 572 million USD; chemicals decreased by 552 million USD; plastic products decreased by 550 million USD; iron and steel products decreased by 516 million USD.
The 11 product groups mentioned above alone decreased by 23.71 billion USD in turnover, equal to 95.7% of the decrease in export turnover of the whole country.
An optimistic sign is that export activities improved in August saw a turnover of 32.76 billion USD, up by 9% (equivalent to an increase of 2.69 billion USD) compared to the previous month.
In particular, the strongest increase was in product groups such as phones of all types and components increased by 697 million USD; computers, electronic products and components increased by 222 million USD; rice increased by 184 million USD, textiles increased by 181 million USD; wood and wood products increased by 169 million USD; crude oil increased by 114 million USD.
In the first 8 months of the year, the country's export turnover reached 228.17 billion USD, down by 9.8% (equivalent to a decrease of 24.79 billion USD) compared to the same period last year.
Strong support for imports and exports
To support the continued recovery of exports, from now until the end of the year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to offer many solutions to support, remove difficulties and obstacles, and reduce costs for businesses with the motivation to maintain production, business, and capital to produce new orders.
Ministries, branches and localities will coordinate with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to promote market development, remove barriers to entry, and provide early warnings about trade defense measure, pay attention to markets with large export volumes in a timely and clear manner.
In addition, the authorities will also support businesses to take advantage of commitments and opportunities from FTAs, especially new generation FTAs to boost exports, through propaganda and support for businesses to implement, meets rules of origin and certificate of origin.
CK
Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn/haiquanonline.com.vn