Vietnam achieved a trade surplus of approximately US$1 billion in the first half of March, with total import-export turnover reaching over US$21.47 billion despite the impact caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Vietnam enjoys US$1 bln trade surplus in mid-March despite
the impact caused by COVID-19 epidemic

Most notably, the nation exported goods worth US$11.2 billion whilst importing items worth US$10.3 billion throughout the reviewed period.

Since the beginning of the year up until March 15, the country’s total export turnover increased by roughly 7% on-year to US$50.3 billion, with imported goods standing at over US$47.55 billion in value, an annual rise of nearly 1.9%.

The positive results has provided fresh impetus to local firms in their great efforts to overcome difficulties caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. Moreover, domestic companies are keen to ensure that an adequate supply of raw materials for production activities is maintained and signed export orders are fulfilled.

At present, several export and import commodities have reached over US$1 billion in turnover with some even going on to achieve revenue in the tens of billions of dollars.

With regard to exports, phones and components maintained their leading position with a turnover of over US$10.2 billion, up 8.5% in comparison to last year’s corresponding period.

In terms of imports, electronic products and components, along with computers, are the commodity groups that enjoyed the largest turnover with US$11.03 billion, an increase of over 15%.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country’s import and export of goods are projected to face a number of hurdles over the short term due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic which has spread rapidly to countries outside of China. The virus has hard hit the Republic of Korea and Japan which are Vietnam’s leading trade partners.

In the event of a prolonged epidemic, it is likely to have an adverse effect on the export growth target for the year.

The country’s agricultural exports through border gates in northern border provinces were disrupted throughout February due to China moving to temporarily suspend the exchange of border goods as a means of dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic.

Despite this, customs clearances for import and export goods through northern border gates has significantly improved since the beginning of March, therefore helping to ease the worries that enterprises may have regarding a shortage of raw materials for production.