Exports bring home 20 billion USD in January

MoIT data showed that Vietnam’s total trade revenue reached 40.8 billion USD in January, up 1.8 percent from the previous month and 0.89 percent year on year.

That included about 20 billion USD in exports, up 1.9 percent from December. Overseas shipments by domestic companies rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier to 6.42 billion USD while those, including crude oil exports, by foreign invested firms dropped 5.1 percent to 13.58 billion USD. 

Exports of agro-forestry-fishery products were estimated at 2.26 billion USD, up 3.1 percent month on month and accounting for 11.28 percent of total exports. 

Most items in this category like fruit and vegetables, cassava and cassava products, coffee and pepper posted fast growth, the MoIT said.

Meanwhile, exports in the manufacturing industry reached 16.42 billion USD, up 1.6 percent from last December and making up more than 82 percent of total revenue.

Big contributors included mobile phones and components, textile and garment, computers, other electronic products and components and footwear.

Partially thanks to free trade agreements, Vietnam’s exports to most markets sustained the upward trend in January. The US was the biggest destination of Vietnamese goods with a turnover of 4.05 billion USD, increasing by 11.8 percent from the same period last year.

Sharing the same trend, import turnover in January was estimated at 20.8 billion USD, up 1.7 percent month on month. 

That resulted in a total trade deficit of 800 million USD, equivalent to 4 percent of export revenue. Meanwhile, most imported goods were materials for production, which is a positive sign of production expansion by both domestic and foreign invested firms this year.

The MoIT predicted more export growth opportunities in the future when a foldable smartphone model and the Galaxy S10 series of Samsung, a large electronic product manufacturer in Vietnam, will make global debuts later in February.

Additionally, the capacity of this business’ factories in the country is expected to be maximised in 2019 as Samsung Electronics has shut down its mobile phone factory in China’s Tianjin city and has encountered production difficulties in India.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) officially took effect in 2019, which is also hoped to help Vietnamese goods raise their market share in member countries like Canada, New Zealand and Australia, according to the MoIT.