Trade surplus increases, agriculture shines

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of nearly 11 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2022, of which the agricultural sector contributed significantly with 7.82 billion USD.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade previously forecast that the balance of trade in 2022 would present a surplus for the seventh consecutive year, with about 1 billion USD. But in fact, the figure jumped to 10.6 billion USD after 11 months, 10 billion USD higher than the same period last year. Export continues to be a bright spot in Vietnam's economic picture in the period.

According to the General Statistics Office, the import-export turnover in January-November hit nearly 674 billion USD, of which 342.2 billion USD came from exports, up 13.4% year-on-year, and the remaining from imports, up 10.1%.

However, the trade balances of the domestic and the FDI sectors are adverse. If the domestic sector had a trade deficit of 27.97 billion USD after 11 months, the FDI sector (including crude oil) recorded a trade surplus of 38.57 billion USD. The FDI sector also contributed 74.4% of the total export turnover.

Agricultural sector enjoys 11-month trade surplus of 7.82 billion USD (Photo: VNA)

In the period under review, agro-forestry-fishery exports stood at about 49.04 billion USD, higher than last year’s record of 48.6 billion USD.

The 11-month export rose 11.8% year on year while imports increased 6.9% to some 41.22 billion USD, resulting in a surplus of 7.82 billion USD – up 47.8%.

That made up a total trade of 90.26 billion USD, rising 9.5% year on year, statistics show.

Although orders tend to decrease due to high inflation in many major markets in the year-end, the sector’s export turnover this year is expected to reach 52.5-53 billion USD, nearly 3 billion USD higher than the set target./.