Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in the first 5 months of 2023

2. In the first 5 months of 2023, Vietnam‘s trade-in-goods totaled US dollars 260.79 billion in value terms, 15.3% downwards as compared with last year. In which, total merchandise exports value shrunk 12.3%, to US dollars 135.22 billion and the total merchandise imports value decreased 18.4% to US dollars 125.57 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance of this period was in the surplus of US dollars 9.65 billion.

3. Trade data disseminated recently by Vietnam Customs announced that the total value of exportation and importation by foreign direct invested (FDI) traders reached USD 36.58 billion in total for May of 2023, up by 0.8% on month-on-month basis. FDI’s export value of USD 19.79 billion and FDI’s import value of USD 16.78 billion led to a trade surplus of USD 3.01 billion.

For Jan-May period, trade-in-goods by FDI traders totaled US dollars 180.59 billion, down by 15.1% on year-on-year basis. Total value of FDI exportation was USD 98.91 billion, decreased by 12.2%. On import side, the total value of those companies was USD 81.68 billion, down by 18.3%. As a result, FDI’s trade balance was in surplus of USD 17.23 billion.

Main Exports and Imports

4. The April of 2023 to May of 2023 increase in total merchandise exports was due to upwards of following products: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 485 million); textiles and garments (up by USD 376 million); fruits and vegetables (up by USD 265 million).

On a year-on-year basis, exports decreased USD 18.88 billion, to USD 135.22 billion. The main products, which contributed to the reduction, were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 5 billion); textiles and garments (down by USD 2.33 billion); wood and wooden products (down by USD 2.06 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 2.03 billion); foot-wears (down by USD 1.38 billion).

5. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 5 months of 2023 were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; machine, equipments, tools and instruments; textiles and garments.

Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof reached USD 20.19 billion in export value and was down by 19.9% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the China (down by 15.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.74 billion); the United States (down by 34.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.6 billion); EU (27) (up by 9.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.98 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 46.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.3 billion).

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 20.51 billion in export value; went down 9% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 2.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 5.96 billion); China (down by 0.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.62 billion); EU (27) (down by 30.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.16 billion); Republic of Korea (up by 22.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.91 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 16.48 billion in export value; went down by 5.6% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 14.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 6.63 billion); EU (27) (up by 3.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.34 billion); China (up by 3.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.24 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 2.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.12 billion); Japan (down by 2.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.1 billion).

Textiles and garments reached USD 12.65 billion in export value; went down by 15.6% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 27.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 5.5 billion); EU (27) (down by 6.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.56 billion); Japan (up by 6.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.42 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.14 billion).

6. April of 2023 to May of 2023 growth in total merchandise imports was due to the upturns of the commodities as follows: machine, equipments, tools and instruments (up by USD 347 million); crude oil( up by USD 231 million); petroleum products (up by USD 111 million); plastics (up by USD 111 million).

On a year-on-year basis, the reduction in imports to USD 125.57 billion was mainly contributed by the downturns of the following products: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 5.88 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 4.92 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 2.39 billion); plastics (down by USD 1.82 billion); iron and steels (down by USD 1.66 billion).

7. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 5 months of 2023 were: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; machine, equipments, tools and instruments; telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; textile, leather and foot-wears materials and auxiliaries group.

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 31.57 billion in import value; went up by 13.5% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were Republic of Korea (down by 3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 10.26 billion); China (down by 19.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 8.35 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 20.8%, to USD 3.98 billion); Japan (down by 13% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.54 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 16.07 billion in import value; went down 13% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were China (down by 13.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 8.35 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 18.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.32 billion); Japan (down by 5.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.62 billion).

Textile, leather and foot-wears materials and auxiliaries group reached USD 9.76 billion in import value; was down by 20.7% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 20.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.92 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 18% on year-on-year basis, to USD 690 million); Taiwan (China) (down by 33.6%, to USD 653 million); United States (down by 11.4%, to USD 512 million).

Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof reached USD 3 billion in import value; was down by 66.2% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 32.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.52 billion).

Trading Partners

8. For Jan-May period, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia was totaled USD 169.20 billion in value terms, which moved down 15.3% as compared to the same period of 2022. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America was followed, which reached USD 52.86 billion and decreased by 18.9%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD 29.29 billion, down by 10.2%; Oceania: USD 6.25 billion, down by 10.6% and Africa: USD 3.19 billion, down by 5.5% in comparison with the same period of 2022.

9. In the first 5 months of 2023, 4 exporting markets of Vietnam with turnover of over USD 9 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD 36.32 billion); China (reached USD 20.32 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 9.19 billion) and Japan (reached USD 9.11 billion).

10. On import side, four partners exporting goods to Vietnam with turnover of over 7 billion were as follows: China (reached USD 41.19 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 20.12 billion); Japan (reached USD 8.35 billion); Taiwan (reached USD 7.38 billion).