Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in the first 9 months of 2021

2. In the first 9 months of 2021, Vietnam‘s trade-in-goods totaled US dollars 483.82 billion in value terms, 24.6% above the corresponding period of last year. As compared to result of a year earlier, total merchandise exports value rose 18.8%, to US dollars 240.63 billion and the total merchandise imports value increased 30.8% to US dollars 243.18 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance for January-September period of 2021 was in the deficit of US dollars 2.55 billion.

3. Trade data disseminated recently by Vietnam Customs announced that the total value of exportation and importation by foreign direct invested (FDI) traders reached USD 38.19 billion in total for September of 2021, down by 0.7% on month-on-month basis. FDI’s export value of USD 19.84 billion and FDI’s import value of USD 18.35 billion led to a trade surplus of USD 1.49 billion.

For January-September period of 2021, trade-in-goods by FDI traders totaled US dollars 335.85 billion, up by 28% on year-on-year basis. Total value of FDI exportation was USD 176.57 billion, increased by 23.1%. On import side, the total value of those companies was USD 159.28 billion, up by 33.9%. As a result, FDI’s trade balance was in surplus of USD 17.28 billion.

Main Exports and Imports

4. The August of 2021 to September of 2021 decrease in total merchandise exports was due to the downwards in textiles and garments (down by USD 377 million); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 169 million); foot-wears (down by USD 158 million);...

On a year-on-year basis, exports was up USD 38.09 billion, to USD 240.63 billion. The main products, which contributed to the increase, were machine, equipments, tools and instruments (up by USD 8 billion); iron and steel (up by USD 4.78 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 4.39 billion); telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (up by USD 4.24 billion); …

5. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 9 months of 2021 were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; machine, equipments, tools and instruments; textiles and garments.

Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof reached USD 41.02 billion in export value and was up by USD 11.5% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were China (up by 52% on year-on-year basis, to USD 9.8 billion); the United States (up by 1.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.09 billion) and EU (27) (down by 18% on year-on-year basis, to USD 5.56 billion).

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 36.56 billion in export value; went up 13.6% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 26.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 9.3 billion); China (down by 6.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.8 billion); EU (27) (up by 6.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.63 billion);…

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 26.17 billion in export value; went up by 44.1% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 53.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 11.6 billion); EU (27) (up by 50.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.15 billion); China (up by 44.2%, to USD 1.9 billion); Japan (up by 30% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.88 billion);…

Textiles and garments reached USD 23.41 billion in export value ; went up by 5.6% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 11.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 11.62 billion); EU (27) (up by 2.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.75 billion); Japan (down by 11.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.28 billion); …

6. The August of 2021 to September of 2021 reduction in total merchandise imports was due to the downwards of the commodities as follows: machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 332 million); coal (down by USD 176 million); plastics (down by USD 158 million);…

On a year-on-year basis, imports went up USD 57.3 billion, to USD 243.18 billion. The growth in imports was mainly contributed by the upturns of the following products: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 8.7 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (up by USD 8.14 billion); telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (up by USD 4.16 billion); …

7. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 9 months of 2021 were: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; machine, equipments, tools and instruments; telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; textile, leather and foot – wears materials and auxiliaries group.

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 53.78 billion in import value ; went up by 19.3% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were China (up by 27.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 15.45 billion); Republic of Korea (up by 15% on year-on-year basis, to USD 14.5 billion); Taiwan (China) (up by 27.4%, to over USD 7 billion);…

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 34.84 billion in import value; went up 39.2% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were the China (up by 63.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 18.8 billion); Republic of Korea (up by 5.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.7 billion); Japan (down by 1.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.25 billion);…

Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof reached USD 14.8 billion in import value; was up by 39.2% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were Republic of Korea (up by 60.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.18 billion); China (up by 19.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 6.48 billion); …

Textile, leather and foot – wears materials and auxiliaries group reached USD 19.6 billion in import value ; was up by 26.9% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were China (up by 31% on year-on-year basis, to USD 10.1 billion); Republic of Korea (up by 13% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.86 billion); Taiwan (China) (up by 26%, to USD 1.83 billion); the United States (down by 3.3%, to USD 1.4 billion); ...

Trading Partners

8. In the first 9 months of 2021, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia was totaled USD 313.06 billion in value terms, which moved up 25.7% as compared to the same period of 2020. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America was followed, which reached USD 100.86 billion and increased by 25.4%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD 53.11 billion, up by 13.4%; Oceania: USD 10.43 billion, up by 45.3% and Africa: USD 6.35 billion, up by 26.2% in comparison with the same period of 2020.

9. For Jan-September period of 2021, 4 exporting markets of Vietnam with turnover of over USD 14 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD 68.87 billion); China (reached USD 38.77 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 15.99 billion) and Japan (reached USD 14.67 billion).

10. On import side, four partners exporting goods to Vietnam with turnover of over 15 billion were as follows: China (reached USD 80.74 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 40.40 billion); Japan (reached USD 16.24 billion); Taiwan (reached USD 15.28 billion).