The first four months of the year saw both the export and import turnover of foreign-invested economic sectors through ports in Ho Chi Minh City enjoy high levels of growth as the state economic and non-state economic sectors endured severe drops due to the impact of the recent global economic downturn.

Of the total export turnover, including crude oil, of exporters through various ports in Ho Chi Minh City during the four month period, the foreign invested sector was able to maintain its growth momentum, recording an increase of 31.2% to approximately US$8.7 billion in total export turnover of US$13.1 billion. This was followed by the non-state economic sector at US$3.6 billion throughout  the same period, while the state economic sector suffered falls of 24% to a mere US$812.7 million.

Regarding the five groups of goods which were exported through the southern metropolis’ ports during the reviewed period, excluding crude oil, only agricultural products such as rice and coffee, along with industrial goods like computers, electronic products and components, footwear, machinery, and equipment recorded strong growth rates. Most notably, industrial products accounted for 78.6% of the overall export proportion.

Specifically, computers along with electronic products and components reached over US$5.6 billion in export turnover, representing a 61.1% increase during the same period.

Moreover, approximately 280,000 tonnes of rice with a value of US$ 348 million, were shipped via ports in the southern city, an increase of 25.5% on-year.

April alone saw the total export turnover of firms exporting goods, including crude oil, via the ports reach approximately US$3.5 billion, a fall of 5.1% from the previous month.

The majority of export products endu280red a fall throughout April compared to the previous month as a result of the novel coronavirus epidemic negatively affecting the demand of importing countries, leading to delays, extensions, and cancellations of orders, therefore resulting in a sharp decrease in export turnover.

Despite these challenges, some export items were still able to maintain growth over the previous month, such as fruit and vegetable, up by 9.9%, coffee, which enjoyed a rise of 6.3%, cashews, an increase of nearly 5%, and seafood products, up 3.2%.

Regarding imports, the foreign-invested economic sector continued to record the majority of the total four-month import turnover of US$13.8 billion, an annual increase of 10.8%, while the import of the state economic and non-economic sectors dropped off.

The state economic sector was only able to reach approximately US$348 million, a fall of 28.6%, while the non-state economic sector recorded roughly US$6 billion, down 4.5%. In contrast, the foreign-invested economic sector reached US$7.5 billion, representing a rise of 30.7%.