Vietnam achieves record trade surplus of $13.5 billion

Structure of import - export turnover in the first eight months of 2020. Sketched by T.Bình

The figures on import and export were announced by the General Department of Vietnam Customs on September 14.

In August, Vietnam's total import and export value reached $50.4 billion, with a total export value of $27.7 billion, up 11.4% and the total import value reached $22.7 billion, up 2.8% over the previous month.

With the prosperity in August, total value of import and export goods of Vietnam in the first eight months of the year reached $336.92 billion; of that total export value reached $175.36 billion, up 2.3% and total import value reached $161.9 billion, down 2.4% over the same period in 2019.

So, in the first eight months of the year, the trade balance reached trade surplus by nearly $13.5 billion, higher nearly 2.5 times than the surplus in the same period in 2019 ($5.47 billion).

In August, phones and components led in export turnover and also had a high increase compared to July with the result of nearly $5.35 billion, up by 24.8%. However, for the first eight months of the year, although this group still maintained its top position (reaching nearly $31.6 billion), turnover decreased by 5.4% over the same period in 2019.

Besides phones and components, in August, there were five other export commodity groups with a turnover of $1 billion or more, including computers, electronic products and components with $4.2 billion (up 3.4%) compared with July 2020; textiles and garments reached nearly $2.97 billion (down 2.5%); machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts reached nearly $2.7 billion (up 17.6%); footwear nearly $1.4 billion (up 1%); and wood and wood products reached $1.15 billion (up 1.9%).

In terms of import, the largest commodity group was computers, electronic products and components with a turnover of more than $6 billion, up 7.6% over the previous month. Generally, in the first eight months of the year, this group of goods reached $38.75 billion, up 15.6%, continuing to be the largest imported commodity group of Vietnam.