The General Department of Vietnam Customs reported that after experiencing growth for four consecutive months, merchandise exports exhibited signs of slowing down but regained momentum in October. In contrast, October imports were estimated at US$29.31 billion, reflecting a 2.9% increase, equivalent to US$823 million more than September.

Consequently, the combined import and export value for October amounted to US$61.61 billion, marking a 4.1% increase, equivalent to US$2.45 billion higher than the previous month, resulting in a trade surplus of US$3 billion for the month. However, despite the resurgence in October, the overall import and export value for the first 10 months of 2023 experienced a 9.6% year-on-year decline, totaling US$557.95 billion. Within this figure, exports were estimated at US$291.28 billion, representing a 7.1% decrease, equivalent to US$22.22 billion, while imports were forecast at US$266.67 billion, marking a 12.3% decline, or US$37.27 billion.

Although import and export activities are showing signs of improvement, State Budget revenues from these activities witnessed a year-on-year reduction of 17% in the first 10 months of the year, amounting to VND302,394 billion (US$12.85 billion), which corresponds to 71.2% of the estimated target.

In the remaining two months of the year, the customs sector will prioritize efforts related to debt collection, trade facilitation, and revenue loss prevention to achieve the set target for 2023.