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

2. In the first quarter of 2023, Vietnam‘s trade-in-goods totaled US dollars 153.79 billion in value terms, 13.5% downwards as compared with last year. In which, total merchandise exports value shrunk 11.8%, to US dollars 79.3 billion and the total merchandise imports value decreased 15.4% to US dollars 74.49 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance of this period was in the surplus of US dollars 4.81 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 39.56 billion in total for March of 2023, up by 13.9% on month-on-month basis. FDI’s export value of USD 21.73 billion and FDI’s import value of USD 17.83 billion led to a trade surplus of USD 3.91 billion.

For Jan-Mar period, trade-in-goods by FDI traders totaled US dollars 107.76 billion, down by 13.2% on year-on-year basis. Total value of FDI exportation was USD 59.06 billion, decreased by 10.6%. On import side, the total value of those companies was USD 48.7 billion, down by 16%. As a result, FDI’s trade balance was in surplus of USD 10.36 billion.

Main Exports and Imports

4. The February of 2023 to March of 2023 growth in total merchandise exports was due to upwards of following products: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 974 million); textiles and garments (up by USD 332 million); wood and wooden products (up by USD 257 million); rice (up by USD 223 million).

On a year-on-year basis, exports decreased USD 10.58 billion, to USD 79.30 billion. The main products, which contributed to the reduction, were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 1.87 billion); textiles and garments (down by USD 1.54 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 1.23 billion); wood and wooden products (down by USD 1.21 billion).

5. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first quarter 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 13.42 billion in export value and was down by 12.2% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the China (down by 4.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.52 billion); United States (down by 21.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.34 billion); EU (27) (up by 14.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.04 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 42.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 855 million).

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 12.03 billion in export value; went down 9.3% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 7.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.56 billion); China (down by 18.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.4 billion); EU (27) (down by 29% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.32 billion); Republic of Korea (up by 24.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.29 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 9.85 billion in export value; went down by 3% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 11.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.99 billion); EU (27) (up by 12.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.46 billion); China (up by 4.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 701 million); Japan (down by 0.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 663 million).

Textiles and garments reached USD 7.17 billion in export value; went down by 17.7% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 30.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.05 billion); EU (27) (down by 11.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 798 million); Japan (up by 11.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 861 million); Republic of Korea (up by 5.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 797 million).

6. The February of 2023 to March of 2023 increase 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 862 million); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (up by USD 718 million); fabrics (up by USD 497 million).

On a year-on-year basis, the reduction in imports to USD 74.94 billion was mainly contributed by the downturns of the following products: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 3.65 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 2.61 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 1.45 billion.

7. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the first 3 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 19.31 billion in import value; went down by 11.9% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were Republic of Korea (down by 2.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 6.28 billion); China (down by 18.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.99 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 20%, to USD 2.48 billion); Japan (down by 1.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.75 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 9.21 billion in import value; went down 13.6% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were China (down by 15.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.54 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 17.1% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.4 billion); Japan (down by 0.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.02 billion).

Textile, leather and foot-wears materials and auxiliaries group reached USD 5.45 billion in import value; was down by 20% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 17.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.83 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 23.2%, to USD 518 million); Republic of Korea (down by 16% on year-on-year basis, to USD 512 million); Japan (up by 1.4%, to USD 236 million).

Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof reached USD 1.9 billion in import value; was down by 65.8% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 28.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 1.62 billion).

Trading Partners

8. For Jan-Mar period, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia was totaled USD 100.94 billion in value terms, which moved down 13% as compared to the same period of 2022. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America was followed, which reached USD 30.12 billion and decreased by 18%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD 17.08 billion, down by 11.9%; Oceania: USD 3.87 billion, down by 0.4% and Africa: USD 1.78 billion, down by 5.8% in comparison with the same period of 2022.

9. In the first quarter of 2023, 4 exporting markets of Vietnam with turnover of over USD 5 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD 20.76 billion); China (reached USD 11.92 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 5.85 billion) and Japan (reached USD 5.35 billion).

10. On import side, four partners exporting goods to Vietnam with turnover of over 4 billion were as follows: China (reached USD 23.64 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 12.29 billion); Japan (reached USD 5.28 billion); Taiwan (reached USD 4.58 billion).