$US 100 billion cycle of Vietnam’s import and export

The import and export activities set a new record but the export activities have signs of slowdown in 2016. Picture: T.Binh.

4 and 5-year cycle

According to the recent information from the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s turnover hit $US 300 billion on 15th November 2016. Therefore, after nearly 5 years, the country’s turn-over increased by $US 100 billion.

But based on the statistics of the specialized units (such as the General Department of Customs, the General Statistics Office, or the Ministry of Industry and Trade), there is no specific information when Vietnam reached the milestone of $US 100 billion in turnover.

However, based on the statistics of the General Department of Customs, the milestone may have been reached in early December 2007.

Specifically, the statistics of the General Department of Customs show, by the end of November 2007, the total turnover in the whole country achieved $US 99.731 billion, $US 111.2 billion at the end of 2007.

Thus, in December 2007 alone, the total turnover gained $US 11.469 billion, the average per day reached nearly $US 370 million.

Based on the statistics above, in early December 2007, the whole country set a record when the turnover hit $US 100 billion for the first time ($US 99.731 billion in the November added $US370 million of the average turnover per day in the December. But the 1st and 2nd December 2007 was Saturday and Sunday, export and import activities were small).

Since the milestone, over 4 years later, on 25th December 2011, Vietnam set another milestone in international trade activities when it reached turnover value of $US 200 billion (the event was announced by the General Department of Customs).

And nearly 5 years later, Vietnam made another important record in the import and export activities when it hit $US 300 billion as mentioned above.

Notably, the time record for import and export from $100 to $200 billion was 4 years, but from $US 200 to $US 300 billion was nearly 5 years. It shows that the export growth in the previous period is better than in the past 5 years.

Continuous trade deficit.

At 15 November 2016, though the whole country’s trade surplus still remained at the level of $US 2.66 billion, the trade deficit came back in the first half of November and October previously.

Specifically, in October, exports reached over $US 15.4 billion, imports reached nearly $US 15.85 billion that led to the trade deficit of the month at $US 445 million. In the first half of November, the trade deficit coutinued to increased to $US 570 million.

The current trade deficit is due to export turnover falling slighty, meanwhile import turnover increased sharply.

In October 2016, the export turnover reduced by 0.1%, down $US 18 million compared to September 2016; while import turnover rose by 8.9%, increased by $US 1.29 billion. In the first half of November, the export turnover still declined by 2.7% compared to the second half of October, meanwhile the import turnover increased by 1%.

According to the General Department of Customs, in recent years, goods for investment, production and consumption are increasing sharply compared to the end of October such as: machinery, equipment, tools, accessories rose 10% (equivalent to $US 136 million); plastic materials increased by 13.6% (equivalent to $US 40 million); metals climbed by 16.2% (equivalent to $US 29 million).

Meanwhile, from the beginning of the year to 15th November 2016, items been imported dramatically were computers, electronic products and components worth $US 24,094 billion, rose by $US 3.7 billion (nearly 18.2%) compared to the same period in 2015. The items surpass gradually the category of “machineries, equipments, tools, accessories” to become the largest import category of our country.