Illustrative image. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam enjoyed its largest trade surpluses with the United States (US) and European Union (EU) in the first 11 months of 2018, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Vietnam had a combined trade surplus of 57.5 billion USD with the US and the EU, up 7.3 percent from the same period last year and six times higher than the country’s total figure of 6.81 billion USD.
This figure substantially contributed to the national foreign exchange reserves, which have grown to a record high of more than 60 billion USD so far this year.
Over the period, Vietnam had its largest trade surplus of 31.9 billion USD with the US, up 8.1 percent year on year and 4.7 times higher than the total national trade surplus. The most growth was recorded in exports of mobile phones and accessories (49.8 percent), footwear (14.6 percent) and garment and textile (12.4 percent).
Vietnam’s trade surplus with the EU stood at 25.6 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent. Among EU countries, Vietnam posted the largest trade surplus with the United Kingdom, which imported more than 4.73 billion USD worth of commodities from Vietnam in the first 10 months of the year while the UK’s exports to the Asian nation hit 694 million USD.
Meanwhile, Vietnam ran trade deficits with 27 foreign markets, of which nine recorded trade deficits of more than 1 billion USD and five others exceeded 2 billion USD.
As the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement entered into force, the Republic of Korea surpassed China to become the foreign market Vietnam posted the largest trade deficit with. From January to November, Vietnam’s trade deficit with the RoK was worth 26.6 billion USD, down from 29.2 billion USD over the corresponding period of 2017, or 8.9 percent.
Exclusive of unofficial cross-border trade, Vietnam reported a trade deficit of 21.6 billion USD with China in the first 11 months, down from 21.9 billion USD in the same period last year.
The RoK and China were followed by Taiwan and Thailand which Vietnam had trade deficits of nearly 8.43 billion USD and 5.04 billion USD, respectively.
Last year, Vietnam maintained a trade surplus of about 2.7 billion USD, the same figure as 2016.
National trade value in 2017 was estimated at nearly 425 billion USD. The value of exports was estimated at 213.77 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent, higher than the annual growth rate of 9 percent in export value in 2016.
Meanwhile, the value of imports in 2017 was estimated at 211.1 billion USD, 20.8 percent higher than the previous year.
Foreign-invested companies notched a trade surplus of 28.8 billion USD, contributing substantially to the total national trade surplus, while the domestic economic sector continued to have a trade deficit of 26.2 billion USD.–VNA
VNA
