A record trade surplus

	Import-export turnover reaches 427 billion USD
	Trade deficit reaches nearly 400 million USD in the first half of October
	Vietnam enjoys growing trade surplus of over US$6.8 billion

Vietnam's imports, exports and trade balance between 2001-2018 and ten months of 2019. Chart: T. Binh.

The statistics of the General Department of Customs in recent years show that, since 2011 and earlier, Vietnam's trade balance of goods has always been in deficit, with a trade deficit of billions of dollars per year.

The peak was US$18.02 billion in 2008.

But from 2012 to now, the trade balance has reversed; the surplus has continuously increased (except for 2015, the deficit was US$3.55 billion).

By the end of 2018, the country saw a trade surplus of US$6.83 billion.

Especially, in the first ten months of 2019, the export scale increased more than imports, the trade surplus reached the largest milestone in history of US$9.02 billion.

This record surplus is thanks to the efforts of export growth of all commodity groups.

In particular, the export value of computers, phones of all kinds, electronic products and components (including two groups of computers, electronic products and components, and phone of all kinds and components) earnedUS$73.15 billion, accounting for 33% of the country’s total export value.

The trade balance ofsome markets in the first ten months. Chart: T. Binh

In the past ten months, Vietnam achieved a large surplus mainly from import and export activities of the group of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises.

Specifically, the trade surplus of FDI enterprises reached US$28.53 billion, up ten percent over the same period last year. Meanwhile, the domestic sector had a trade deficit of US$19.51 billion, up 5.1 percent.

In the first 10 months, Vietnam saw a trade surplus of over US$3 billion with six markets: the United States, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Austria.

The number of markets with trade deficit of over US$3 billion was five.

Of which, the largest trade deficit was China with US$29.02 billion, up 45.6 percent; followed by South Korea with US$22.73 billion, down 5.2 percent over the same period in 2018. These two markets amounted to 74 percent of the total trade deficit of the five major markets.