Vietnam had a trade deficit of more than 1 billion USD with Australia last year, one year after the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) came into effect.

Coal mining dumps of Cua Ong Coal Selection Company, a member of Vietnam
National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Photo: VNA)

Of which, coal was the imported commodity with the highest value of 1.45 billion USD in the first 11 months of last year, rocketing by 96.8 percent over the previous year, accounting for 35 percent of total import turnover of goods from this market.

Ore and minerals ranked second, valued at 517 million USD, accounting for 12.5 percent of the total import turnover from Australia.

Metal products ranked third in turnover, followed by wheat and iron and steel scrap.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Australia has changed significantly a year after the CPTPP came into effect, said the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Accordingly, the trade balance has shifted from a trade surplus to a trade deficit.

Vietnam had a trade surplus with Australia of 215 million USD in 2018.

Two-way trade reached nearly 8.1 billion USD last year.

Vietnam’s export turnover to Australia was 3.5 billion USD last year, down sharply from nearly 4 billion USD in 2018.

On the opposite side, Vietnam’s imports from Australia increased to 4.56 billion USD from 3.75 billion USD in 2018.