Rice and cereals were among Vietnam’s biggest exports to Singapore in terms of export growth in the first four months of 2024 - photo: VNA

This took the total to more than SGD10.19 billion in the first four months of 2024, up 6.33 percent year-on-year, including Vietnam’s exports worth more than SGD2.6 billion, up 24.72 percent, and imports worth almost SGD7.59 billion, up 1.21 percent.

Goods temporarily imported to and re-exported from Singapore accounted for almost 69 percent of all Singaporean exports to Vietnam, reaching a total value of SGD5.23 billion in the first four months of 2024. If only Singaporean-made goods are taken into account, Vietnam made a trade surplus of around SGD252.44 million in trade with Singapore.

In April, Vietnam’s major exports to Singapore increased significantly. Among them, machinery, equipment, mobile phone, and part and accessory exports soared by 51.69 percent; exports as reactors, boilers, machine tools, and spare parts for the above-mentioned machines increased by 62.44 percent; and petroleum and petroleum product exports increased by 5.17 times.

Exports of machinery, equipment, mobile phones, parts and accessories to Singapore increased by 51.69 percent in April

Cao Xuan Thang, Vietnamese Trade Counsellor to Singapore, said that in the first four months of 2024, Singapore’s trade with the global market reached SGD421 billion plus, up 7.44 percent year-on-year, including exports worth more than SGD221.83 billion, up 6.55 percent, and imports worth SGD199.21 billion plus, up 8.45 percent.

According to Thang, rice and cereals were among Vietnam’s biggest exports to Singapore in terms of export growth in the first four months of the year. Statistics of a Singaporean business management authority show that Vietnam exported rice worth SGD36.15 million to Singapore in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 80.46 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

With this result, Vietnam for the first time became the largest rice exporter to Singapore, accounting for 32.03 percent of all rice imported by Singapore, followed by India and Thailand with SGD33.63 million and SGD33.16 million worth of rice exports to this market.

According to the Trade Counsellor, Singapore keeps diversifying rice supply sources, and product quality improvement, trade promotion, and branding development is crucial for Vietnamese businesses to increase goods, including rice, exports to Singapore.

The Vietnamese Trade Office in Singapore will further update Vietnamese enterprises on the Singaporean market and policies, help them connect with partners, promote their products in and increase exports to Singapore while assisting Singaporean business delegations to come to Vietnam for market research and seeking investment opportunities in industrial, and trade and service projects in Vietnam.