Imports and exports in May enjoy strong growth

Specifically, the export turnover in May stood at US$29.05 billion, up 4.3% over the previous month. Of the figure, the domestic economic sector reached US$7.79 billion, up 1%, whilst the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) hit USS21.26 billion, up 5.5% on-year.

Generally, the first five months of the year saw export turnover stand at US$136.17 billion, down 11.6% over the same period from last year.

Rice is one of the export items that has shown many positive signs in the market.

At the end of May, Vietnamese 5% broken rice was offered for sale at US$490 to US$495 per tonne, higher than the figure of US$485 to US$495 per tonne last week.

The main competitor of Vietnamese rice is Thailand's 5% broken rice, which this week is listed at a price of US$5 per tonne higher than Vietnamese rice.

Preliminary data compiled by the General Department of Customs indicates that in May, 213,000 tonnes of rice was unloaded at the Ho Chi Minh City port, with the majority of the rice being shipped to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Africa.

Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Import-Export Department under the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, emphasised that Vietnamese rice exports have made strong progress over recent times, increasing both in volume and value.

This is especially true over recent months when the export price of rice has always been at a high level, surpassing even that of Thailand and India.

Along with rice, there were 23 products which had an export turnover of over US$1 billion during the five-month period, thereby accounting for 87.4% of the total export turnover, whilst seven export items featured export turnover of more than US$5 billion, thereby accounting for 65.4% of the figure.

Also according to the GSO, the import turnover throughout the reviewed period reached US$26.81 billion, up 6.4% over the previous month. In which, the domestic economic sector hit US$9.31 billion, up 3.8%, with the FDI sector reaching US$17.5 billion, up 7.8% compared to the corresponding period from last year. Meanwhile, the import turnover of goods in May dropped by 18.4%, of which the domestic economic sector fell by 24.6% and the FDI sector went up by 14.7%.

During the first five months of the year, import turnover was estimated to be at US$126.37 billion, a drop of 17.9% over the same period from last year, of which the domestic economic sector reached US$43.95 billion, a decline of 18.5%, whilst the foreign-invested sector hit US$82.42 billion, down 17.5%.

Regarding the export and import market, during the five-month period, the United States maintained its position as the largest export market of Vietnam with an estimated turnover of US$37.2 billion, while China made up the country’s largest import market with an estimated turnover of US$43.4 billion.

The high export turnover of May shows that trade promotion solutions have already had an impact.

Moving forward, to further improve the efficiency of import and export activities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will focus on implementing a number of tasks, such as promoting innovation and trade promotion activities towards new and potential markets such as India, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, as well as markets less affected by inflation, with positive growth such as ASEAN.

The Ministry will make forays into new markets with an emerging middle class such as the E7 emerging markets of China, India, Turkey, Russia, Mexico, and Indonesia, as well as the Halal market of the Middle East, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Moreover, the Ministry will effectively exploit Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), facilitate and enhance digital transformation in granting preferential C/O certificates of origin, thereby helping businesses to take advantage of commitments in FTAs.