The surge in imports of several commodities limited the trade surplus in the past four months to 711 million USD, compared to the surplus of 3.7 billion USD during the same period last year.

Workers process tra fish at the An My Fish JSC - invested factory
in Thoai Son district, An Giang province (Photo: VNA)

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam earned some 19.9 billion USD in exports in April, down 12.6 percent month on month but still up 7.5 percent year on year.

In the first four months of 2019, the export revenue was estimated at 78.76 billion USD, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier. The figure consisted of 23.33 billion USD contributed by domestic companies and 55.43 billion USD (including crude oil) by foreign invested firms, respectively rising by 10.5 percent and 4 percent.

There were 16 commodities with export turnover of more than 1 billion USD each, and they accounted for 81.2 percent of the total shipments. 

They include mobile phones and components (16 billion USD – down 0.2 percent); electronic products, computers and components (9.6 billion USD – up 12.6 percent); textile-garment (9.4 billion USD – up 9.8 percent); footwear (5.3 billion USD – up 13.4 percent); machinery, equipment and spare parts (5.3 billion USD – up 4.1 percent); timber and wood products (3.1 billion USD – up 17.8 percent); transport vehicles and spare parts (2.9 billion USD – up 5.7 percent); and aquatic products (2.4 billion USD – down 1.3 percent).

The US was the largest export market of Vietnam between January and April when it imported 17.8 billion USD worth of Vietnamese goods, up 28.4 percent. It was followed by the EU (13.7 billion USD – up 2.8 percent), China (10.4 billion USD – down 5.8 percent), ASEAN (8.4 billion USD – up 7.3 percent), the Republic of Korea (6.2 billion USD – up 7.3 percent), and Japan (6.1 billion USD – up 6.6 percent).

Meanwhile, about 20.6 billion USD worth of goods was imported into Vietnam in April, down 2.6 percent month on month but up 17.6 percent year on year, the GSO reported.

In the first four months, the country’s import turnover was estimated at 78.05 billion USD, up 10.4 percent from the same period of 2018. That included 32.8 billion USD worth of items imported by domestic businesses and 45.25 billion USD by foreign invested ones, up 14.4 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.

With 22.3 billion USD (up 18.8 percent), China remained the biggest supplier of goods for Vietnam. It was followed by the Republic of Korea (15.5 billion USD – up 3.1 percent), ASEAN (10.8 billion USD – up 9.2 percent), Japan (5.7 billion USD – down 1.4 percent), the EU (4.6 billion USD – up 14.8 percent), and the US (4.2 billion USD – up 14.3 percent).