Vietnam reported an estimated trade deficit of US$700 million in April, narrowing the trade surplus of the first four months of 2019 to US$711 million from US$1.6 billion one month earlier, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.
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On breaking down, domestic enterprises reported a trade deficit of US$9.46 billion in the four-month period, while foreign-invested firms posted a positive balance of US$10.17 billion.
In April, Vietnam exported goods worth US$19.9 billion, down 12.6% month-on-month, while imports reached US$20.6 billion, down 2.6%.
Overall, the country's trade turnover reached US$156.8 billion in the first four months of 2019, up 8% year-on-year, of which, its export value amounted to US$78.76 billion, up 5.8% year-on-year, and imports totaled US$78.05 billion, up 10.4%.
According to the report, Vietnam's export staples during the January - April period consisted of equipment and parts with US$11.6 billion, up 15.2% year-on-year; garment with US$4.1 billion, rising 8%; steel with US$3.1 billion, growing by 3.9%; plastics with US$2.9 billion, up 3.9%; vehicles with US$2.4 billion, an increasing of 95.6%, among others.
Electronic appliances, computers and components were the biggest export staple, reaching US$15.8 billion, accounting for 20.2% of total exports and up 20% year-on-year.
In the January - April period, the US remained Vietnam's biggest export market, spending US$17.8 billion on Vietnamese goods, up 28.4% year-on-year, followed by the European Union (EU) with US$13.7 billion, up 2.8%, and China with US$10.4 billion, down 5.8%.
Meanwhile, China remained Vietnam's largest import market with turnover of US$22.3 billion, an 18.8% climb year-on-year.
South Korea claimed the second place by exporting US$15.5 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, up 3.1% year-on-year, followed by ASEAN with US$10.8 billion, up 9.2%.
