Vietnam - US trade turnover triples over nine-year period

Bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and the US has, on average, edged up 16.3 per cent annually during the nine-year period.

News outlet vneconomy.vn cited data recently released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs as showing that bilateral trade turnover has, on average, edged up 16.3 per cent annually during the nine-year period.

Exports to the US market rose from US$14.24 billion in 2010 to US$47.53 billion in 2018. Notably, they enjoyed consistent growth with rises of 18.9 per cent in 2011, 21.3 per cent in 2013, and 20.1 per cent in 2014.

In turn, imports from the US tripled from US$3.77 billion in 2010 to US$12.75 billion in 2018.

The statistics indicate that Vietnam has recorded consecutive trade surpluses with the US. Last year, the trade surplus posted US$34.8 billion, or 73.2 per cent of the total value of Vietnamese goods shipped to the US.

Top 10 export staples to the US market in 2018 brought home US$40.58 billion, representing 85.4 per cent of the total export turnover. Garments and textiles were recorded as the highest value exports to the US market, reaching US$13.7 billion in 2018, a rise of 11.6 per cent on year.

Following were footwear with US$5.82 billion, up 13.9 per cent; telephones and their components at US$5.41 billion, up 46.1 per cent; along with wood and wooden items at US$3.9 billion, up 13.9 per cent.

Last year, a total of 7,200 domestic firms sold their goods to the US market, a year on year hike of 7.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, the figure of local enterprises purchasing their goods from the world’s largest economy increased by 6.3 per cent on year to 13,200.

Preliminary statistics show that bilateral trade turnover between the two countries was recorded at approximately US$6.23 billion in January, surging by 38.13 per cent on year.

Of the figure, Vietnam raked in US$5.15 billion from exports to the US market, up 42.2 per cent on year. Meanwhile, imports from the US reached US$1.08 billion, representing an increase of 21.5 per cent against the corresponding period last year.