Vietnam – Laos trade increases by 10%

Import - export activities between Vietnam and Laos in 5 years, the unit is "million USD". Sketch by T.Bình

In that, Vietnam exports achieved US $475 million, and imports from other countries totaled US $333 million.

In comparison with the same period in 2016, the total export turnover between the two countries increased by 10%. In particular, the exports increased by 12.8%, imports increased by 6%.

The main items exported to Laos are: petroleum; fertilizer, steel, machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts, means of transport, and spare parts. In comparison, imports items are mainly focused on key groups such as maize, ores, minerals, fertilizer, timber and wood products.

Notably, although the trade between the two countries is quite good, there are signs of further growth after a decline in 2016.

Specifically, the statistics show that, in 2013, the total value of trade turnover between the two countries reached for the first time, "billion USD" (reaching US $1.091 billion). In that, Laos has maintained the trade surplus by US $245.7 million.

The mark of "billion USD” has been maintained for three consecutive years (2013, 2014 and 2015). In particular, the highest figure was US $1,287 billion in 2014 and the import turnover from Laos was US $802, and exports to Vietnam were US $485 million.

In 2015, the value of turnover started to go down. Although it was still keeping a total value of over US $1 billion, the results for the whole year were US $166 million, which was lower than the year before (US $1.121 billion).

Then last year, the foreign trade between the two countries was moved from the "billion USD" milestone that had been set up three years ago when the turnover was only US $823 million. The main reason for this decline is that the imports of goods from Laos are continuously decreasing.

Specifically, the value of imports was US $802 million since 2014, the imports of goods from Laos dropped to US $587 million in 2015 and only reached US $345.3 million last year.

Thus, in 3 years (from 2014 to 2016), the imports from Laos decreased by US $456.7 million which was equivalent to a decline of 57%.

In terms of quantity of goods, imported goods from Laos are quite modest and similar, with 5 main groups: corn; ores, other minerals, fertilizer, timber and wood products, and ordinary metals.

Looking at the fluctuation of import and export activities between Vietnam and Laos over time, it is easy to see the dependence on a few items (especially as the direction of importing from Laos mainly depends on wood and wooden products). Therefore, when these groups have changes in turnover it will greatly affect the trade turnover between the two countries.