AsemconnectVietnam - According to the General Statistics Office under the Ministry of Finance, Vietnam’s import and export turnover of goods in the first quarter of 2025 reached 202.52 billion USD, an increase of 13.7% over the same period last year.

In March alone, the total import and export turnover of goods reached 75.39 billion USD, an increase of 18.2% over the previous month and an increase of 16.6% over the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2025, the total import and export turnover of goods reached 202.52 billion USD, an increase of 13.7% over the same period last year, of which exports increased by 10.6%; imports increased by 17.0%. The trade balance of goods had a surplus of 3.16 billion USD.
Vietnam's goods exports in March and the first quarter of 2025
The export turnover of goods in March of 2025 reached 38.51 billion USD, up by 23.8% over the previous month. In the first quarter of 2025, the export turnover of goods reached 102.84 billion USD, up by 10.6% over the same period last year. Of which, the export turnover of the domestic economic sector reached 29.02 billion USD, up by 15.0%, accounting for 28.2% of the total export turnover; the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) reached 73.82 billion USD, up by 9.0%, accounting for 71.8%.
In the first quarter of 2025, there were 18 items with an export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 84.5% of the total export turnover (there were 5 items with an export turnover of over 5 billion USD, accounting for 59.9%).
The country’s import turnover of goods in March of 2025 reached 36.88 billion USD, up by 12.9% compared to the previous month. In the first quarter of 2025, the import turnover of goods reached 99.68 billion USD, up by 17.0% over the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector reached 36.78 billion USD, up by 19.3%; the foreign-invested sector reached 62.9 billion USD, up by 15.8%.
Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery exports in the first quarter of 2025
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in the first quarter of 2025, agricultural, forestry and fishery exports earned 15.72 billion USD, of which many groups of goods recorded double-digit growth.
According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover in March of 2025 was estimated at 6.14 billion USD, bringing the total agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover in the first 3 months of 2025 to 15.72 billion USD, up by 13.1% over the same period of 2024.
The export value of agricultural products reached 8.53 billion USD, up by 12.2%; the export value of livestock products reached 131.3 million USD, up by 18.5%; the export value of aquatic products reached 2.29 billion USD, up by 18.1%; the export value of forestry products reached 4.21 billion USD, up by 11.2%; the export value of production inputs reached 549.5 million USD, up by 19.6%; the export value of salt reached 2.3 million USD, up by 2.4 times.
Major export markets for agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam in the first quarter of 2025
By region, Asia was the largest export market for agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam with a market share of 42%. The next two largest markets were the Americas and Europe with market shares of 22.5% and 16.6%, respectively. Compared to the same period last year, the estimated export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam in the first 3 months of 2025 to Asia increased by 2%; the Americas increased by 15.7%; Europe increased by 37.8%; Africa increased by 2.1 times; and Oceania increased by 0.8%.
The United States with a market share of 20.2%, China with a market share of 17.3%, and Japan with a market share of 7.7%, were the 3 largest export markets for agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam. Compared to the same period last year, the estimated export value of Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the first 3 months of 2025 to the US market increased by 13.5%, China increased by 3.6%, and Japan increased by 26%.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the trade balance of the agricultural, forestry and fishery sector in the first 3 months of 2025 was estimated to reach a surplus of 4.4 billion USD, up by 13.1% over the same period last year. By commodity group, forestry, fishery and agricultural products were the 3 commodity groups with a trade balance in the first 3 months of 2025 in a surplus state.
Specifically, the exports of the forestry group were estimated to reach a surplus of 3.54 billion USD, up by 9.1% over the same period of 2024; the fishery group has a surplus of 1.51 billion USD, up by 14.1%; and the agricultural group has a surplus of 1.48 billion USD, up by 16.9%.
Meanwhile, the trade balance of the remaining 3 groups of goods was in deficit. Specifically, the group of production inputs had a deficit of 1.21 billion USD, down by 4.7%; livestock products had a deficit of 905.7 million USD, up by 37%; and salt had a deficit of 4.6 million USD, down by 2.5%.
By specific goods, the 5 items with the highest estimated trade surplus in the first 3 months of 2025 include: wood and wood products with a surplus of 3.29 billion USD, up by 9.3% over the same period last year; coffee with a surplus of 2.79 billion USD, up by 48.3%; shrimp with a surplus of 792.6 million USD, up by 36%; vegetables and fruits with a surplus of 541.3 million USD, down by 31.4%; rice with a surplus of 454.7 million USD, down by 49.5%.
Removing difficulties for import and export activities
In the coming time, import and export of goods is expected to face many difficulties due to tax policies in the market. In the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade determines to continue to focus on market information work to promptly inform industry associations about developments in the export market so that enterprises can promptly adjust their production plans accordingly, orient their search for orders from the markets; regularly update information on foreign market situations; regulations, standards, and conditions of foreign markets that may affect Vietnam's import and export activities and make recommendations to localities, associations, and import and export enterprises.
In addition, we need to regularly review, amend, supplement, or propose competent authorities to amend and supplement relevant legal documents to simplify administrative procedures, promote implementation through online public services to facilitate import and export activities.
In addition, we should continue to implement solutions to diversify export markets, aiming to promote exports to a variety of new markets, in parallel with key markets as well as effectively exploit FTAs, in addition to accelerating the negotiation of new FTAs and upgraded FTAs; accelerate the progress of internalizing commitments, continue to implement training activities on commitments, focusing on training on rules of origin for businesses to grasp and take advantage of.
We should regularly exchange and warn organizations that issue Certificates of Origin (C/O) to pay attention to some items with a high risk of origin fraud; proactively organize inspection and verification teams when there is suspicion of origin fraud and regularly and closely monitor the developments in freight rates and fluctuations in the global and domestic logistics market to make timely recommendations to the business community.
Taking advantage of FTAs to reduce risks and increase export advantages
In 2025, due to many changes in the world's economic and political situation, trade defense is forecast to continue to increase, the complexity and scale of cases will also increase.
As an important destination in the global supply chain, Vietnam's export goods will hardly avoid trade defense storms.
Therefore, taking advantage of free trade agreements (FTAs) and diversifying markets, avoiding overheating export growth in a market under trade defense investigation is something that Vietnamese enterprises need to pay attention to. In addition to early warning information, enterprises need to proactively respond to trade defense lawsuits to reduce risks and increase advantages for exported goods.
As a country with high growth in commodity exports in the world, Vietnamese goods are facing challenges of being subject to trade defense measures by importing countries. Meanwhile, Vietnam aims to increase its export growth by more than 12% in 2025 compared to 2024, so diversifying trade defense solutions when entering FTA markets is essential.
CK
Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn/thitruongvietnam.vn