Why does bilateral trade between Vietnam – Australia grow sharply?

Iron and steel is one of the products that have a very strong export turnover to the Australian market. Photo: H. Nụ

According to General Department of Vietnam Customs, the total trade turnover of goods between Vietnam and Australia in January 2024 reached US$1.25 billion, an increase of 43.4% over the same period in 2023 (US$872 million), growing 10.6% compared to December 2023 (US$1.13 billion). In particular, Vietnam's export turnover of goods to Australia reached US$521.9 million, rising 36.9% over the same period in 2023 (US$381.1 million) and climbing 31.1% compared to December 2023 (US$398 million).

In the opposite direction, the turnover of Vietnamese goods imported from Australia reached US$729 million, an increase of 48.4% over the same period in 2023 (US$491.4 million) and a slight increase of 0.3% compared to December 2023 (US$727 million). Most key products witnessed positive growth.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Australia in the first month of the year recorded a very positive recovery and growth compared to the same period in January 2023 as well as the previous December 2023.

For exports, except for three items that decreased: crude oil (-32.6%), footwear (-8%), textile and garment raw materials (-0.5%), all items witnessed positive growth, especially key products such as phones of all kinds and components (+20.7%), textiles and garments (+10.2%), machinery, equipment and tools and other spare parts (+8.7%), seafood (89.5%)…

Notably, many products are Vietnam's strengths, although export turnover to Australia is still "modest", it has seen strong growth such as coffee (+483.3%), iron and steel of all kinds (+386.7 %), paper and paper products (+165.9%), rice (+84.9%)... promising potential to continue to increase soon.

Regarding imports, most key products with high proportions (>5%) had a strong increase (except ores and other minerals, which decreased by 1.3%).

According to the deal, the recovery of bilateral trade in the first month of the year compared to the same period in January 2023 is mainly thanks to strong growth from the low base of January 2023 when the global economy in general and the economies of Vietnam and Australia in particular during that period were negatively affected by inflation, causing the decline in purchasing power.

However, the recovery trend is being consolidated when the total import and export turnover has also recorded a quite positive recovery (+10.6%) compared to December 2023, which is mainly based on the growth of exports from Vietnam to Australia (+31.1%) thanks to insignificant import growth (+0.3%).