Exports maintain growth momentum
According to a report on socio-economic situation in April and the first 4 months of 2025 announced by General Statistics Office - Ministry of Finance on the morning of May 6, in April, Vietnam's total import-export turnover of goods reached 74.32 billion USD, down slightly by 1.4% compared to previous month, but up sharply by 21.3% over the same period last year.
In the first 4 months of the year, total turnover reached 276.89 billion USD, up 15.7% over the same period in 2024. This result reflects positive and sustainable recovery of international trade activities, in context of many major markets showing signs of growth again.
Goods exports continue to be a bright spot in the trade picture. In April alone, export turnover reached 37.45 billion USD, down 2.8% compared to March, mainly due to the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector decreasing by 6%.
However, domestic economic sector achieved an impressive growth rate of 5.2%, reaching 11.66 billion USD. Compared to the same period last year, total export turnover increased by 19.8%, of which domestic economic sector increased by a remarkable 25.7%, while FDI sector increased by 17.2%.
In the first four months of this year, total export turnover reached 140.34 billion USD, up 13%. Domestic economic sector contributed 40.74 billion USD, up 18.1% and accounted for 29% of total turnover. Meanwhile, FDI sector reached 99.6 billion USD, up 11%, accounting for 71%.
Notably, there were 22 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, of which 7 items exceeded the 5 billion USD mark, reflecting that export structure is increasingly focused on key industries with high value content.
In terms of structure, processed industrial goods group continued to dominate with a turnover of 123.71 billion USD (accounting for 88.2%), followed by agricultural and forestry products group with 12.39 billion USD (8.8%), aquatic products reached 3.21 billion USD (2.3%) and fuel and mineral group reached 1.03 billion USD (0.7%). This shows that Vietnam is maintaining its export orientation based on deep processing industry, while still ensuring position of agricultural and aquatic products in global value chain.
Trade balance continues to have a reasonable surplus
Import turnover of goods in April 2025 reached 36.87 billion USD, almost equivalent to March (36.88 billion USD). Domestic economic sector increased slightly by 3.6%, reaching 14.48 billion USD, while FDI sector decreased by 2.2%, to 22.39 billion USD. Compared to the same period in 2024, April imports increased sharply by 22.9%, with domestic sector increasing by 26% and FDI sector increasing by 21%.
In the first four months of this year, total import turnover reached 136.55 billion USD, up 18.6% over the same period last year. Of which, domestic economic sector imported 51.26 billion USD (up 21.1%), FDI sector imported 85.29 billion USD (up 17.1%). There were 25 items with an import value of over 1 billion USD, of which 2 items exceeded 5 billion USD mark, showing a clear recovery in domestic production and consumption demand.
In terms of import structure, group of production materials continued to dominate with a total turnover of 128.17 billion USD, accounting for 93.9% of total imports. Of which, group of machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts accounted for 50.6%; group of raw materials, fuels and materials accounted for 43.3%. Group of consumer goods reached 8.38 billion USD, accounting for a modest proportion of 6.1%, in line with trend of prioritizing imports for production rather than consumption. Trade balance continued to maintain a surplus but narrowed compared to the same period last year. According to preliminary data, March had a trade surplus in March hits 1.63 billion USD, the first quarter had a trade surplus of 3.21 billion USD and April had a trade surplus of 0.58 billion USD, bringing total trade surplus in the first four months of this year to 3.79 billion USD (while in the same period in 2024, trade surplus was up to 9.06 billion USD).
By region, domestic economic sector continued to have a trade deficit of 10.52 billion USD, while FDI sector had a strong trade surplus of 14.31 billion USD, strengthening role of foreign-invested enterprises in the national trade balance.
In terms of markets, the United States remains the largest export partner with a turnover of 43.4 billion USD in the first four months of the year and is Vietnam's largest trade surplus market with a surplus of up to 37.7 billion USD (up 24.9%).
Next, trade surplus to the EU reached 13.4 billion USD (up 16.8%), Japan 0.7 billion USD (doubled). In contrast, China is Vietnam's largest import market with a turnover of 53.2 billion USD, accompanied by a very large trade deficit of 35.1 billion USD (up 44.2%). Vietnam also had a trade deficit of 9.6 billion USD with South Korea (up 9.5%) and 5.4 billion USD with ASEAN (up 83.1%).

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn