In February 2018, Vietnam’s merchandise exports were up 54.6% to US$14.33 billion year-over-year, but imports, amounting to $14.03 billion, were down 7.3% compared to February last year, according to trade statistics from Vietnam Customs.
Total external merchandise turnover in February was $28.36 billion, slipping 0.5% year-on-year. There was a $294 million surplus in Vietnam’s trade balance in this month.
The main export products which contributed to the increase were telephones, mobile phones and parts; computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components; and textiles and garments.
In the first two months of 2018, Vietnam’s total merchandise export value rose 26.1% year-on-year to $34.50 billion and total merchandise import value increased 20.5% to $34 billion. Trade-in-goods in January-February totaled $68.5 billion in value terms, 23.3% above the corresponding period of last year.
From January to February 2018, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia added up to $46.51 billion in value terms, which accelerated 25.5% as compared to the same period of 2017.
Trade-in-goods with America reached $10.42 billion and increased by 15.1% year-on-year. The trade values of other continents were Europe $9.38 billion, up by 21.5%; Oceania $1.23 billion, up by 29.6%; and Africa $96 million, up by 23.7% in comparison with the same period of last year.
For the January-February period of 2018, seven importing markets of Vietnam with turnover of over $1 billion were the U.S., $6.0 billion; China, $5.7 billion; South Korea, $2.8 billion; Japan, $2.7 billion; Hong Kong, $1.2 billion; Netherlands, $1.1 billion; and Germany, $1.0 billion.
The top three big sources of Vietnam’s imports were China ($9.2 billion); South Korea ($7.5 billion); and Japan ($2.7 billion).
Photo: Dinkum
