Vietnam is estimated to enjoy a trade surplus of 19.1 billion USD this year – the highest since 2016.

 

In a press conference announcing the socio-economic situation in the fourth quarter on December 27, the General Statistics Office (GSO) estimated Vietnam’s total trade revenue at 543.9 billion USD, up 5.1 percent year-on-year.

 

Of the total, export value hits 281.5 billion USD and imports reach 262.4 billion USD, year-on-year rises of 6.5 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

 

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

 

Nguyen Viet Phong from the GSO’s Trade and Service Statistics Department said that the trade surplus is a bright spot contributing remarkably to economic growth and positively affecting the exchange rate and foreign exchange reserves in the context of Vietnam needing more resources for post-pandemic economic recovery in 2021.

 

In the context that the world economy is seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade surplus of 19.1 billion USD shows that Vietnam has well taken advantage of opportunities brought by signed free trade agreements (FTAs), especially the EU-Vietnam FTA and the quality of the country’s exports has improved, meeting requirements of choosy markets.

 

According to the GSO, in 2020, 31 commodities enjoy export turnovers of more than 1 billion USD, with six posting export values of over 10 billion USD, accounting for 64.3 percent of the total export turnover.

 

The heavy industry and mineral sector enjoys the biggest export value with 152.5 billion USD, up 11.3 percent year-on-year.

 

The US is Vietnam’s largest importer with the export revenue of 76.4 billion USD, up 24.5 percent, followed by China with 48.5 billion USD, up 17.1 percent, and the EU with 34.8 billion USD, down 2.7 percent.

 

This year, 35 commodities post import values of more than 1 billion USD, with four reaching 10 billion USD, accounting for 49.4 percent of the total import revenue.

 

According to Phong, Vietnam enjoys trade a surplus of 62.6 billion USD with the US, and 20.3 billion USD with the EU, while it posts trade deficits of 34.5 billion USD with China, 27.6 billion USD with the Republic of Korea, and 6.9 billion USD with ASEAN.

 

He suggested Vietnam make more efforts to help US businesses operating in Vietnam deal with difficulties, and import more from the US, particularly commodities such as energy, agricultural products, pharmaceutical products and machinery./.

VNA