Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in the first 7 months of 2023

2. In the first 7 months of 2023, Vietnam‘s trade-in-goods totaled US dollars 374.36 billion in value terms, 13.8% downwards as compared with last year. In which, total merchandise exports value shrunk 10.3 %, to US dollars 195.42 billion and the total merchandise imports value decreased 17.4% to US dollars 178.94 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance of this period was in the surplus of US dollars 16.48 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 38.81 billion in total for July of 2023, up by 1.1% on month-on-month basis. FDI’s export value of USD 22.20 billion and FDI’s import value of USD 16.61 billion led to a trade surplus of USD 5.59 billion.

For Jan-Jul period, trade-in-goods by FDI traders totaled US dollars 258.05 billion, down by 13.8% on year-on-year basis. Total value of FDI exportation was USD 142.78 billion, decreased by 10.4%. On import side, the total value of those companies was USD 115.27 billion, down by 17.8%. As a result, FDI’s trade balance was in surplus of USD 27.50 billion.

Main Exports and Imports

4. June of 2023 to July of 2023 increase in total merchandise exports was due to upwards of following products: telephones, mobile phones, parts and thereof (up by USD 441 million); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (up by USD 324 million); textiles and garments (up by USD 208 million); rubber (up by USD 49 million).

On a year-on-year basis, exports decreased USD 22.50 billion, to USD 195.42 billion. The main products, which contributed to the reduction, were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 5.27 billion); textiles and garments (down by USD 3.24 billion); wood and wooden products (down by USD 2.57 billion); foot-wears (down by USD 2.44 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 2.31 billion); fishery products (down by USD 1.7 million); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 1.08 billion); iron and steel (down by USD 635 million); plastic products (down by USD 548 million).

5. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 7 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 28.74 billion in export value and was down by 15.5% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the China (down by 2.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.19 billion); the United States (down by 38.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.91 billion); EU (27) (up by 9.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.15 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 36.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.03 billion).

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 30.65 billion in export value; went down 3.4% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 1.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 8.75 billion); China (up by 13.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.55 billion); EU (27) (down by 23.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.23 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 23.26 billion in export value; went down by 9% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 18.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 9.3 billion); EU (27) (up by 1.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.28 billion); China (down by 5.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.75 billion.

Textiles and garments reached USD 19.05 billion in export value; went down by 14.5% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 24% on year-on-year basis, to USD 8.46 billion); EU (27) (down by 9.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.33 billion); Japan (up by 5.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.16 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 3.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.63 billion).

6. June of 2023 to July of 2023 growth in total merchandise imports was due to the upturns of the commodities as follows: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 545 million); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (up by USD 177 million); telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (up by USD 136 million).

On a year-on-year basis, the reduction in imports to USD 178.94 billion was mainly contributed by the downturns of the following products: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 7.8 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 4.27 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 3.5 billion); plastics (down by USD 2.66 billion).

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

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 45.83 billion in import value; went down by 8.5% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were Republic of Korea (up by 2.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 14.65 billion); China (down by 18.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 11.91 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 17.7%, to USD 5.75 billion); Japan (down by 9.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.66 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 23.03 billion in import value; went down 13.2% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were China (down by 13.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 12.19 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 19.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.18 billion); Japan (down by 6.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.31 billion).

Textile, leather and foot-wears materials and auxiliaries group reached USD 13.69 billion in import value; was down by 19.3% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 19.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.12 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 16.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.30 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 32.1%, to USD 1.10 billion); United States (down by 16.8%, to USD 980 million).

Iron and steel reached USD 5.60 billion in import value; was down by 30.1% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 21.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.73 billion); Japan (down by 26.1%, to USD 859 million); Indonesia (up by 2.5%, to USD 702 million).

Trading Partners

8. For Jan-Jul period, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia was totaled USD 241.84 billion in value terms, which moved down 13.5% as compared to the same period of 2022. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America was followed, which reached USD 76.47 billion and decreased by 18.7%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD 42.06 billion, down by 7.4%; Oceania: USD 8.97 billion, down by 15.2% and Africa: USD 5.02 billion, up by 4.8% in comparison with the same period of 2022.

9. In the first 7 months of 2023, 4 exporting markets of Vietnam with turnover of over USD 13 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD 53.10 billion); China (reached USD 30.50 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 13.17 billion) and Japan (reached USD 13.09 billion).

10. On import side, four partners exporting goods to Vietnam with turnover of over 10 billion were as follows: China (reached USD 58.66 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 28.43 billion); Japan (reached USD 11.86 billion); Taiwan (reached USD 10.39 billion).