WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Oct 04, 2016 / 21:14

Vietnam sees trade surplus of 2.7 billion USD after 9 months

From January to September, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 2.7 billion USD. The foreign-invested sector gained a trade surplus of 17.1 billion USD while the domestic sector suffered a trade deficit of 14.4 billion USD.

According to the latest statistics from the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam’s exports are estimated to reach 128 billion USD in the first nine months of this year, up 6.7% year-on-year,
Of which, the domestic sector contributed 37 billion USD, up 5%, and the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) accounted for 91.1 billion USD, up 7.4%. 
In September alone, exports decreased 6.8 percent to an estimated 15 billion USD compared to August due to a turnover reduction in several key export items such as telephones and components (down 17.4% to 506 million USD), footwear (down 18.2% to 200 million USD) and garments (down 7.1% to 175 million USD).
Vietnam’s exports are estimated to reach 128 billion USD in the first nine months of this year.
Vietnam’s exports are estimated to reach 128 billion USD in the first nine months of this year.
In January-September, Vietnam spent 125.4 billion USD on imports, surging 1.3% against same period of last year, with the foreign-invested sector making up 74 billion USD and the domestic sector accounting for 51.4 billion USD.
The GSO said a slight growth recorded in both sector’s imports in the reviewed time showed positive recovery signs of local production.
In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam gained a trade surplus of 2.7 billion USD. The foreign-invested sector enjoyed a trade surplus of 17.1 billion USD while the domestic sector suffered a trade deficit of 14.4 billion USD. 
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, agricultural exports in the period witnessed a yearly increase of 7.2% to 11.1 billion USD.
Illustrative image
Illustrative image
Agro-forestry-fisheries exports reached n estimated 2.5 billion USD in September, lifting the total nine-month turnover to 23.3 billion USD, up 6% year-on-year.
Of this, coffee recorded the highest increase of some 40% in volume and 22% in value compared with same period of last year. Up to 1.39 million tonnes of coffee, valued at 2.48 billion USD, was shipped to overseas markets from January to September.
Pepper came next with 146,000 tonnes for 1.19 billion USD, up 31.5% in volume and 13.1% in value, respectively.
After recording a temporary downtrend, tea and rubber bounced back, enjoying positive growth of 0.2% and 1%, gainin 152 million USD and 1.1 billion USD, respectively. 
However, the export of rice dropped 16.4% in volume and 12.5% in value to 3.76 million tonnes and 1.69 billion USD, respectively. China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice with a 35.5% market share, followed by Ghana with 11 percent.
Forestry exports raked in 5.1 billion USD, equivalent to the value during the same period of last year.
During the reviewed time, export of seafood products earned more than 4.9 billion USD, surging 4.3% year-on-year. The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the four main importers of Vietnamese seafood, accounting for 53.7% of the total export revenue.