Vietnam runs biggest trade surplus with US, EU in 11 months

Vietnam had a combined trade surplus of US$57.5 billion with the US and the EU, up 7.3% from the same period last year and six times higher than the country’s total figure of US$6.81 billion.

This figure substantially contributed to the national foreign exchange reserves, which have grown to a record high of more than US$60 billion so far this year.

Over the period, Vietnam had its largest trade surplus of US$31.9 billion with the US, up 8.1% year on year and 4.7 times higher than the total national trade surplus. The most growth was recorded in exports of mobile phones and accessories (49.8%), footwear (14.6%) and garment and textile (12.4%).

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the EU stood at US$25.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. Among EU countries, Vietnam posted the largest trade surplus with the United Kingdom, which imported more than US$4.73 billion worth of commodities from Vietnam in the first 10 months of the year while the UK’s exports to the Asian nation hit US$694 million.

Meanwhile, Vietnam ran trade deficits with 27 foreign markets, of which nine recorded trade deficits of more than 1 billion USD and five others exceeded 2 billion USD.

As the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement entered into force, the Republic of Korea surpassed China to become the foreign market Vietnam posted the largest trade deficit with. From January to November, Vietnam’s trade deficit with the RoK was worth US$26.6 billion, down from US$29.2 billion over the corresponding period of 2017, or 8.9%.

Exclusive of unofficial cross-border trade, Vietnam reported a trade deficit of US$21.6 billion with China in the first 11 months, down from US$21.9 billion in the same period last year.

The RoK and China were followed by Taiwan and Thailand which Vietnam had trade deficits of nearly US$8.43 billion and US$5.04 billion, respectively.

Last year, Vietnam maintained a trade surplus of about US$2.7 billion, the same figure as 2016.

National trade value in 2017 was estimated at nearly US$425 billion. The value of exports was estimated at US$213.77 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21%, higher than the annual growth rate of 9% in export value in 2016.

Meanwhile, the value of imports in 2017 was estimated at US$211.1 billion, 20.8% higher than the previous year.

Foreign-invested companies notched a trade surplus of US$28.8 billion, contributing substantially to the total national trade surplus, while the domestic economic sector continued to have a trade deficit of US$26.2 billion.