Export-import growth hits 10-year high

Vietnam witnessed the growth of exports and imports in the first four months of 2021 hitting 10-year record high, data of the General Statistics Office (GSO) shows.

From January-April, exports totalled 103.9 billion USD, an increase of 28.3 percent against the same period last year.

The domestic sector exported 25.76 billion USD worth of goods and services, up 12.8 percent year-on-year and accounting for 24.8 percent of the total overseas shipments, while the foreign-invested sector contributed 78.14 billion USD, up 34.4 percent and representing 75.2 percent of the total.

Highest growth was seen in the heavy industry and mining sector, which generated 57.58 billion USD in export revenue, a year-on-year rise of 33 percent. It was followed by the light and craft industries, 27.5 percent; and agriculture and forestry, 8.8 percent.

The US was Vietnam’s largest buyer during the period, with a value of 30.3 billion USD, up 50.1 percent year-on-year. China came second, purchasing 16.8 billion USD worth of goods and services from Vietnam, up 32.4 percent; followed by the EU, 12.6 billion USD and 18.1 percent.

Four-month imports rose by 30.8 percent from a year earlier to 102.6 billion USD. Some 93.9 percent of the imports were capital goods, worth a total of 96.31 billion USD, up 31.4 percent. The remainder was consumer goods, valued at 6.3 billion USD, up 22.5 percent.

China remained as Vietnam’s biggest seller with 33.1 billion USD worth of goods and services shipped to Vietnam, up 47.8 percent year-on-year, followed by the Republic of Korea (16.9 billion USD), ASEAN (14.1 billion USD), and Japan (7.2 billion USD).

The GSO also reported trade surplus of 1.29 billion USD and total retail sales of goods and services of close to 1.7 quadrillion VND (73.5 billion USD) in the first four month of the year, up 10 percent year-on-year.