Reaching US $ 700 billion, Vietnam's import and export surpassed Thailand and Indonesia, ranking 2nd in ASEAN

The Customs sector has made great efforts in trade facilitation, promoting the growth of import and export turnover. Photo: T.Binh

Ranked 2nd in the region

According to the General Department of Customs over the years, Vietnam's import and export has made strong progress in terms of scale and speed. Total import and export value in twenty years (from 2002 to 2021) reached US $ 5.146 billion. In ten years alone (2012-2021), the total turnover reached US $ 4,110 billion, nearly four times higher than the previous ten years combined.

Via the close and drastic direction of the Government, the close and active coordination between ministries, branches, industry associations, provinces and cities, and the unremitting efforts of the business community. In the past two decades, imports and exports have reached important milestones.

2001 was the first year of the 21st century recorded at a modest figure of more than US $30 billion. Six years later (in 2007), reaching the milestone of US $ 100 billion after Vietnam became an official member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In 2011, the turnover doubled, reaching US $ 200 billion. In the next four years, Vietnam's imports and exports reached US $ 300 billion (in 2015).

The US $400 billion milestone was recorded in mid-December 2017 and the US $500 billion milestone was set in mid-December 2019, and the US $600 billion milestone was set on November 30, 2021.

The new milestone of $ 700 billion will be recorded on December 15, 2022 (as of December 14, 2022, reaching US $ 698.5 billion).

According to the WTO, in 2006 Vietnam ranked 50th in the world in terms of merchandise exports and 44th in terms of imports.

Over ten years, by 2018, Vietnam had an impressive growth rate ranked 26th in export and 23rd in imports. Accordingly, Vietnam is continuously in the group of 30 countries and territories with the largest import-export turnover in the world.

It is notable that in 2021, the World Trade Organization recorded that Vietnam's exports ranked 23rd in the world and Vietnam's imports ranked 20th.

In ASEAN, Vietnam's exports and imports of goods both ranked second (after Singapore).

With the impressive import and export results recorded in 2022, our country's import and export rank can be improved on a global scale.

Import and export activities have continuously achieved impressive milestones in recent years. Photo: T.Binh.

Trade balance reversed

Vietnam's merchandise trade balance achieved a continuous surplus after a long period of deficit.

Since 2011, Vietnam was always in a state of deficit, which lasted continuously with a trade deficit of up to billions of USD, the largest deficit was recorded at 18.02 billion USD in 2008.

Since 2012, the trade balance changed direction, turning to a continuous surplus (except in 2015, with a deficit of US $ 3.55 billion).

In 2020, our country's trade in goods reached a record with a surplus of US $19.94 billion.

At the end of 2021, the trade surplus decreased sharply but it reached US $ 3.32 billion. In the first eleven months of 2022, with the increase in the scale of exports higher than imports, the trade balance surplus increased again, reaching US $ 10.68 billion.

Diversifying the market

Currently, Vietnam has extensive trade relations with countries and territories around the world, focusing on major partners such as China, the United States, Korea, Japan, EU, and ASEAN.

Regarding exports, for many years, the United States has always been the largest market while China is the largest import market.

From the beginning of the year to the end of November 2022, exports to the US reached US $ 101 billion, up 17.7% (equivalent to US $ 15.2 billion) over the same period in 2021.

While imports of goods of Chinese origin reached US $ 109.46 billion, up 10% (equivalent to US $ 9.93 billion).

In the past eleven months, exports to the United States and imports from China both exceeded the threshold of US$ 100 billion, reaching an all-time record.

In order to achieve the above results, the Government has directed the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to focus on synchronously implementing solutions to promote institutional reform, and administrative procedures reform, thereby creating an equal, open and transparent business environment, creating more favorable conditions for the business community.