Vietnam posts trade deficit of US$100 million in Jan

Vietnam reported an estimated trade deficit of US$100 million in January, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.

Data: GSO. Chart: Nguyen Tung.

In January, the country’s trade turnover is set to reach US$38.1 billion, down 12.9% year-on-year, including exports of US$19 billion, down 14.3%, and imports of US$19.1 billion, down 11.3%.

On breaking down, the domestic invested sector reported an estimated trade deficit of US$2.4 billion while foreign-invested firms posted an estimated trade surplus of US$2.3 billion. The former’s exports has been down 11.4% year-on-year to US$6.31 billion in the month, accounting for 33.2% of total exports. Meanwhile, FDI firms have reaped US$12.69 billion from overseas shipments, down 15.7% and accounting for 66.8% of the total.

According to the report, Vietnam's export staples during January were garment products worth US$2.6 billion, down 21% year-on-year; phones and parts worth US$2.6 billion, down 22.4%; footwear worth US$1.6 billion, down 9.7%; equipment and parts worth US$1.5 billion, down 6.5%; electronic products, computers and components worth US$2.6 billion, up 5.6%; wood and wooden products worth US$1 billion, up 1.4%; fisheries worth US$550 million, down 25.2%.

Data: GSO. Chart: Nguyen Tung.

In January, the US was Vietnam's biggest export market, spending US$4.8 billion on Vietnamese goods, down 7.6% year-on-year, followed by China with US$3.7 billion, up 32.8%, and the European Union with US$2.6 billion, down 30.8%.  

Meanwhile, China was Vietnam's largest supplier, selling US$6.2 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, a decline of 7.1% year-on-year. 

South Korea claimed the second place by exporting US$3.2 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, down 22.8% year-on-year, followed by ASEAN with US$2.4 billion, down 10.8%.