Trade surplus increased sharply, reaches US$6.5 billion in seven months

	Agricultural trade surplus climbs above US$5 billion mark
	Trade surplus hits US$6 billion over six months
	Half-year trade surplus hits US$4 billion despite COVID-19

Export of goods is forecast to continue to be difficult in the last five months. Photo: N.Linh

According to information the MoIT released this afternoon(July 31), in the first seven months of the year, export of goods was estimated at US$145.79 billion, up 0.2% over the same period last year (the same period increasedby 7.8%).

In particular, the domestic economic sector continued to be a bright spot with an estimated export value of US$50.76 billion, up 13.5%; the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) reached US$95.03 billion (accounting for 65.2% of total export turnover), down 5.7%.

Notably, on the structure of export commodity groups in seven months, the MoIT stated that most export commodity groups decreased compared to the same period last year.

Export turnover of mineral fuel group dropped the most, estimated at US$1.7 billion, down 36%. Similarly, exports of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products in seven months were estimated at US$13.7 billion, down 5.4% over the same period last year (the same period last year decreased by 6.4%).

For the processing industry group, although the total export value in the first seven months increased by 0.8% over the same period last year, reaching US$122.6 billion, but in general there were still many difficulties.

The MoIT said that normally the third quarter is a time of strong export growth. However, with no new orders at the moment, the export of many processed industrial goods such as textiles, footwear, handbags, wooden furniturestill faces many difficulties and declines over the same period last year.

Specifically, in the first seven months of 2020, export of fibers and textile fibers decreased by 20.9%; textiles and garments down 12.1%; export of shoes and sandals of all kinds decreased by 7.9%.

However, some commodity groups maintained their growth momentum over the same period in 2019, including wood and wooden products by 6.2%; computers, electronic products and components increased sharply by 24.3%; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts increased by 27.1%.

“Thanks to the impressive growth rate of two items of computers, electronic products and components and other machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts, it has partly offset the decline of other key products in this group,” the MoIT representative said.

Regarding export markets, at present, the Covid-19 pandemic has not been controlled on a global scale, especially in EU countries, the US, India.

Some countries removed the emergency situation, reopening borders, facing the second wave of Covid-19, adversely affecting economic activities, especially commercial activities.

In the first seven months of 2020, the US was Vietnam's largest export market with a turnover of US$37.9 billion, up 15% over the same period last year; followed by China with US$23.5 billion, up 18.4%.

By the end of July, Vietnam's merchandise trade balance continued to trade surplus of US$6.5 billion, much higher than the trade surplus of US$1.98 billion in the first seven months of 2019. In particular, the economic sector domestic trade surplus was US$11.1 billion; the foreign invested sector (including crude oil) saw a trade surplus of US$17.6 billion.

The MoIT predicts that in the last five months of the year, goods export activities still face many difficulties in the short term. However, the Ministry also said that the European-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) which officially came into effect on August 1, opened a great opportunity for Vietnamese goods and businesses.

If the pandemic is controlled in Europe and the EVFTA is put into effect, Vietnamese enterprises will have great advantages from reducing and eliminating tariff barriers on the EU market. This is a great opportunity for Vietnam to access the world's second largest import market with a population of over 508 million people and a GDP of about US$18,000 billion.

Vietnam enjoys US$1 billion in trade surplus in May Vietnam produced trade surplus worth roughly US$1 billion in May, thus raising the country’s five-month surplus to ...

With strong market opening commitments, commitments to eliminate import taxes to nearly 100% of the tariff schedule in EVFTA after a short roadmap, the opportunity to increase Vietnam's exports to the EU is huge, especially for advantageous products such as textiles, footwear, agriculture, fisheries, wood products.