Nearly US$ 35 Billion of Trade Surplus to The US Market in 2018

According to the latest information from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, at the end of 2018, the US continues to be Vietnam’s largest export market and Vietnam continues to reach a large trade surplus.

In 2018, export turnover to the US reached US$ 47.525 billion, increasing by US$ 5.934 billion compared to 2017 (in 2017 reaching VND 41.591 billion), and equivalent to the growth rate of 14.3%.

In 2018, the US accounted for 19.52% of the total import turnover of the country.

The growth rate of export turnover to the US in 2018 is a remarkable improvement, because it is not only higher than the country’s average growth (13.2%) but also much higher than the growth rate of over 8% in 2017 compared to 2016.

Among the dozens of major export commodity groups to the US reported by the Customs, there are 10 export commodity groups reaching US$ 1 billion or more.

Textiles and Garments is the largest export commodity group to the US with a turnover of US$ 13.67 billion, and the US is Vietnam’s largest Textile and Garment importer.

The export turnover of Textiles and Garments increased by over US$ 1 billion compared to the previous year, in 2017 this turnover reached US$ 12.275 billion.

In addition, the US is also the largest importer for Vietnam’s footwear, Wood and wooden products.

Export turnover of Footwear reached US$ 5.823 billion; Wood and wooden products achieved US$ 3.897 billion

Although the US was not the largest exporter for Vietnam’s telephones and accessories exports, the export turnover to this market in 2018 still reached US$ 5.411 billion; this was one of commodity groups that had the largest additional turnover, up to over US$ 1.7 billion compared to 2017 with the growth rate of over 46%.

Machinery, equipment, tools and other spare parts is the fifth largest export commodity group to the US with a turnover of US$ 3.406 billion, increasing by nearly US$ 1 billion compared to 2017.

Computers, electronic products and components, which was the major export commodity group to the US, declined to a value of US$ 2,864 billion; previously it was US $ 3,439 billion in 2017.

Other US$-billion export commodity groups to the US are Fishery products reaching US$ 1,627 billion; cashew nuts accounting for US$ 1.21 billion, however the turnover of this commodity group declined slightly compared to 2017 (in 2017 reaching US$ 1,219 billion); bags, purses, suitcases, hats, umbrellas achieving US$ 1,321 billion; means of transport and spare parts totalling US$ 1,321 billion.

For the imports, in 2018, Vietnam's import growth from the US sharply increased.

Specifically, our country imported goods from the US with the value of US $ 12.753 billion, up to 36.4% compared to 2017 (2017 reached US$ 9.349 billion).

However, the scale of export turnover was nearly 4 times higher than imports from the US, although the import growth rate from the world's largest economy increased sharply, it was not enough to narrow the trade deficit gap.

In contrast, in 2018, Vietnam's trade surplus to the US continued to rise to nearly US$ 35 billion compared to the result of over US$ 32 billion in 2017.

 

By Thai Binh/Ngoc Loan (Source: VCN)