Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in the whole year of 2023

2. In the whole year of 2023, Vietnam‘s trade-in-goods totaled US dollars 681.04 billion in value terms, 6.9% downwards as compared with last year. In which, total merchandise exports value shrunk 4.6 %, to US dollars 354.67 billion and the total merchandise imports value decreased 9.2% to US dollars 326.37 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance of this period was in the surplus of US dollars 28.30 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 40.70 billion in total for December of 2023, down by 1.4% on month-on-month basis. FDI’s export value of USD 22.27 billion and FDI’s import value of USD 18.43 billion led to a trade surplus of USD 3.84 billion.

For Jan-Dec period, trade-in-goods by FDI traders totaled US dollars 466.27 billion, down by 8.0% on year-on-year basis. Total value of FDI exportation was USD 257.21 billion, decreased by 6.0%. On import side, the total value of those companies was USD 209.07 billion, down by 10.3%. As a result, FDI’s trade balance was in surplus of USD 48.14 billion.

Main Exports and Imports

4. November of 2023 to December 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 579 million); coffee (up by USD 243 million); textiles and garments (up by USD 151 million); iron and steels (up by USD 121 million); wood and wooden products (up by USD 117 million).

On a year-on-year basis, exports decreased USD 17.04 billion, to USD 354.67 billion. The main products, which contributed to the reduction, were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 5.61 billion); textiles and garments (down by USD 4.27 billion); foot-wears (down by USD 3.66 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 2.62 billion); wood and wooden products (down by USD 2.55 billion); fishery products (down by USD 1.95 million).

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

Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof reached USD 57.34 billion in export value; went up 3.2% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (up by 6.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 17.02 billion); China (up by 9.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 13.05 billion); EU (27) (down by 14.0% on year-on-year basis, to USD 6.05 billion).

Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof reached USD 52.38 billion in export value and was down by 9.7% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the China (up by 3.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 16.87 billion); the United States (down by 33.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.90 billion); EU (27) (up by 7.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.20 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 30.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.51 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 43.13 billion in export value; went down by 5.7% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 9.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 18.20 billion); EU (27) (down by 1.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 5.95 billion); China (down by 18.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.01 billion).

Textiles and garments reached USD 33.33 billion in export value; went down by 11.4% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam importing this commodity were the United States (down by 16.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 14.47 billion); Japan (down by 0.6% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.06 billion); EU (27) (down by 13.8% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.86 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 7.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 3.05 billion).

6. November of 2023 to December of 2023 reduction in total merchandise imports was due to the downturns of the commodities as follows: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 388 million); iron and steels (down by USD 195 million); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 180 million).

On a year-on-year basis, the reduction in imports to USD 326.37 billion was mainly contributed by the downturns of the following products: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (down by USD 12.38 billion); machine, equipments, tools and instruments (down by USD 3.56 billion); plastics (down by USD 2.63 billion); parts and accessories of motor vehicles (down by USD 1.73 billion); other base metals (down by USD 1.63 billion); iron and steels (down by USD 1.50 billion); chemicals (down by USD 1.42 billion).

7. Trade statistics of Vietnam Customs shows that 4 biggest commodity groups in the whole year 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 87.97 billion in import value; went up by 7.4% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were Republic of Korea (up by 24.0% on year-on-year basis, to USD 28.75 billion); China (down by 2.7% on year-on-year basis, to USD 23.41 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 8.0%, to USD 10.18 billion); Japan (up by 5.2% on year-on-year basis, to USD 7.34 billion).

Machine, equipments, tools and instruments reached USD 41.58 billion in import value; went down 7.9% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partners of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, were China (down by 7.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 22.51 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 12.5% on year-on-year basis, to USD 5.44 billion); Japan (down by 6.4% on year-on-year basis, to USD 4.02 billion).

Textile, leather and foot-wears materials and auxiliaries group reached USD 24.05 billion in import value; was down by 14.0% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (down by 9.3% on year-on-year basis, to USD 12.75 billion); Republic of Korea (down by 13.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 2.18 billion); Taiwan (China) (down by 25.4%, to USD 1.94 billion); United States (down by 26.2%, to USD 1.32 billion).

Iron and steel reached USD 10.43 billion in import value; was down by 12.5% on year-on-year basis. The biggest trading partner of Vietnam, from which this commodity was originated, was China (up by 13.9% on year-on-year basis, to USD 5.65 billion); Japan (down by 19.7%, to USD 1.44 billion); Indonesia (up by 0.1%, to USD 1.12 billion).

Trading Partners

8. For Jan-Dec period, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia was totaled USD 445.32 billion in value terms, which moved down 6.2% as compared to the same period of 2022. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America was followed, which reached USD 137.67 billion and decreased by 10.6%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD 73.60 billion, down by 4.1%; Oceania: USD 15.54 billion, down by 11.5% and Africa: USD 8.92 billion, up by 8.9% in comparison with the same period of 2022.

9. In the whole year of 2023, 4 exporting markets of Vietnam with turnover of over USD 23 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD 96.99 billion); China (reached USD 60.71 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 23.45 billion) and Japan (reached USD 23.29 billion).

10. On import side, four partners exporting goods to Vietnam with turnover of over 18 billion were as follows: China (reached USD 110.63 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 52.47 billion); Japan (reached USD 21.63 billion); Taiwan (reached USD 18.42 billion).

Attached files

• image001.png
• 318image002.png
• image003.png
• 393image004.png
• image005.png
• image006.png