AsemconnectVietnam - Vietnam's industry and import and export continued to recover strongly in the first half of 2025, with many indexes increasing.

Industrial production and import and export continued to thrive
In the first half of 2025, Vietnam's industrial production maintained a positive recovery momentum despite some unfavorable fluctuations from the international environment. The impacts of global trade tensions caused a significant decline in new export orders, clearly shown by the purchasing managers' index (PMI) falling below 50 points for three consecutive months of the second quarter.
However, thanks to a stable production foundation and the resilience of the processing and manufacturing industries, the industrial production index (IIP) of the whole industry maintained its growth momentum.
Specifically, the IIP index in June increased by 4.13% compared to the previous month and increased by 10.8% compared to the same period of 2024. In the first 6 months, the IIP index increased by 9.23%, higher than the increase of 8.0% in the same period last year.
The processing and manufacturing industry continued to be the main driving force with an increase of 11.11%, marking the highest growth rate in many years.
Some industries recorded strong growth including: motor vehicle production increased by 31.5%; leather and related products increased by 17.1%; rubber and plastic products increased by 17%; apparel increased by 15.1%; other means of transport increased by 14.1%; electronic, computer and optical products increased by 9.8%.
Many key industrial products have impressive output growth compared to the same period last year, such as automobiles up 70.2%, televisions up by 21.9%, NPK fertilizers up by 18.9%, LPG up by 16.9%, regular clothes up by 14.9%, cement up by 14.8%, leather footwear up by 14.3% and steel of all kinds up by 13.9%.
The consumption index of the entire processing and manufacturing industry in the first 6 months of the year increased by 9.8%, reflecting continued improvement in domestic and foreign market demand. However, the inventory index also increased by 12% compared to the same period last year, showing that businesses are actively preparing goods to meet the recovery of orders in the coming time. The average inventory ratio reached 85.7%, up from 76.9% in the same period of 2024.
Industrial production activities grew broadly, with 62/63 localities having an IIP growth index. The only exception was the former Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. Some localities recorded high growth thanks to the breakthrough of the processing and manufacturing industry and the electricity production and distribution industry.
Meanwhile, import and export activities continued to be a bright spot in the economy with a total turnover of 432.03 billion USD, up by 16.1% over the same period in 2024. Exports reached 219.83 billion USD, up by 14.4%, exceeding the set plan. The domestic economic sector reached 58.28 billion USD (up by 9.4%), the FDI sector (including crude oil) reached 161.55 billion USD (up by 16.4%).
There were 28 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, of which 9 items exceeded 5 billion USD. The group of processed industrial goods continued to account for a large proportion with 187 billion USD, equivalent to 85% of the total turnover. Agriculture and fishery products reached 21.3 billion USD (accounting for 9.7%), while fuel and minerals reached 1.29 billion USD (accounting for 0.6%).
Imports of goods reached 212.2 billion USD, up 17.9%. Of which, the domestic economic sector imported 72.82 billion USD, up 10.4%; the FDI sector imported 139.38 billion USD, up 22.3%. The group of goods serving production and consumption accounted for 89.2%, while the group of goods requiring import control accounted for 5.3%.
In terms of export markets, the United States continued to be the largest partner with a turnover of 70.91 billion USD, up by 28.2%, with a trade surplus of 62 billion USD. China ranked second with 29.1 billion USD (up by 4.2%), followed by the EU with 27.3 billion USD (up by 10%), South Korea with 13.7 billion USD (up by 11.9%) and Japan with 12.8 billion USD (up by 11.8%).
On the other hand, China was the largest import market with 84.7 billion USD (up by 26.4%), with a trade deficit of 55.6 billion USD. Other major markets included South Korea (28.3 billion USD), ASEAN (26.5 billion USD), Japan (11.6 billion USD), the United States (8.8 billion USD) and the EU (8.3 billion USD).
The trade balance in the first 6 months of the year reached a trade surplus of 7.63 billion USD, lower than the same period of 2024 (12.15 billion USD). Of which, the FDI sector had a trade surplus of 22.17 billion USD, while the domestic economic sector had a trade deficit of 14.54 billion USD.
CK
Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn