ASEAN – leading trade partner of Vietnam
ASEAN is the second largest supplier of goods to Vietnam after China. It is also Vietnam’s third biggest outlet for export after the US and EU, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
In the nine months leading up to October, Vietnam’s exports and imports to ASEAN tallied in at US$30.63 billion, up 4.1% against the same period last year.
Vietnamese businesses exported US$13.64 billion worth of goods to ASEAN, just up 0.3% and accounting for 12.4% of the country’s total export turnover to the world market.
Products that witnessed a high growth rate include crude oil, iron and steel, machines, equipment, tools, rice, garment and seafood while computers, other electronic products and components, telephones, petroleum and means of transport saw a declining export value.
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Meanwhile Vietnam’s imports from ASEAN countries rose by 7.4% to US$16.99 billion, making up 15.8% of the country’s total import value.
Imported products with a high growth rate were petroleum, wood and timber products, machines, equipment, tools, oil products, plastic raw material, fruits, normal metal, telephones and components while other products seeing slight decrease included crude oil, fertilisers, animal food, milk and dairy products.
Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus with five ASEAN countries including Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Brunei with a total value of US$3.11 billion. However, it is not enough to make up for a trade deficit of US$6.46 billion in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Laos.
According to the Vietnam Customs’ statistics, Singapore is the largest trade partner of Vietnam in the the first 3 quarters of this year, following by Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and Brunei.
