Impression of Import and Export in 2018 Through The Figure of 10 Billion USD

2018 continually recorded impressive results for import and export activities with a 2-digit growth rate, bringing Vietnam's turnover scale to 480.017 billion USD - the highest result ever. The significant contributions to this result are key markets and goods with turnover from 10 billion USD.

The nine markets and export products items worth "tens of billions USD"

The information provided by the General Department of Customs based on the declared data in the process of customs clearance, showed that the total export and import turnover in 2018 reached 480.17 billion USD, up 12.2% (equivalent applications increased by 52.05 billion USD) compared to the previous year. Of which, export value was 243.48 billion USD, up by 13.2% and import reached 236.69 billion USD, up by 11.1%. The trade balance in 2018 yielded a surplus of 6.8 billion USD.

In 2018, the number of export markets with a turnover from 10 billion USD in Vietnam are still the 4 familiar markets: the United States, China, Korea and Japan. Although the number has not increased yet, but the turnover scale in these 4 major markets has increased significantly.

Specifically, export turnover to the United States reached 47,525, an increase of 5.934 billion USD compared to 2017 (in 2017 reached 41.591 billion USD), equivalent to the growth rate of nearly 14.3%, accounting for 19.52% of total export turnover for the whole country. The growth speed of export turnover to the United States in 2018 is a remarkable improvement, because it is not only a higher figure than the national average (13.2% nationwide) but also much higher than 2017’s growth rate, just over 8% compared to 2016.

On the other side, 2018 also recorded a rapid increase in Vietnam's import growth rate from the United States. Specifically, our country imported goods from the United States worth 12.753 billion USD, up by 36.4% compared to 2017 (2017 reached 9.349 billion USD). However, with the scale of export turnover nearly 4 times higher than the import from the United States, although the growth rate of imports from the world's largest economy increased sharply, it was not enough to narrow the gap of trade deficit from our country. In 2018, Vietnam's trade surplus to the US continued to rise to nearly 35 billion USD compared to the result of over 32 billion USD in 2017.

In 2018, the total export turnover of Vietnam to China reached 41,268 billion USD, an increase of 5.864 billion USD compared to 2017 (2017 reached 35.404 billion USD), with a growth rate of 16.6%. China is Vietnam's second largest export market and one of the major export markets with the largest growth and largest absolute increase in 2018. However, 2018 also recorded a sharp drop in turnover of rice, seafood and crude oil, causing these items to fall out of the list of "billion-dollar" to China, so our country has only 10 goods items worth "billion-dollar" to this market.

The remaining markets are Japan reaching 18.85 billion USD, up 11.8% compared to 2017 (2017 reached 16.859 billion USD); South Korea reached 18.204 billion USD, up 22.8% (2017 reached 14.819 billion USD).

Thus, all 4 major export markets achieved double-digit growth and helped the value increase by billions of USD / market. With a total turnover of 125.847 billion USD, the above 4 markets account for 51.7% of the country's total export turnover.

2018 also recorded 5 groups of export goods with turnover from 10 billion USD, including: Phones and components; textile; computers, electronic products and components; devices; Footwear. In terms of quantity, the groups of goods did not increase, however, in each turnover category, they increased strongly by USD billion / group.

Specifically, all kinds of phones and components continue to be the largest export products in 2018 with the value of 49.08 billion USD, up 8.4%, with the main export markets of China and the United States, Korea, United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...

Textiles and garments, reaching 30.49 billion USD, increased by 16.7%. The main markets are the United States, the European Union (EU), Japan, Korea, China ...

Computers and electronic products and components reached 29.32 billion USD, up 12.9%. The main export markets are China, EU, US...

Machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts reached USD 16.55 billion, up 28.2%. The major export markets are the United States, EU, Japan, India ...

All kinds of footwear reached 16.24 billion USD, up 10.6%. The main markets are the United States, EU, China, Japan ...

The six markets and four groups of imports worth "tens of billions USD"

In the field of import, it is easy to recognize the number of 10 markets and commodity groups with turnover from 10 billion USD. In which the market number is 6 and the product group is 4.

The number of import markets with turnover from 10 billion USD increases one market compared to 2017. That is the US market with a total turnover of 12.753 billion USD, while 2017 it was only 9.349 billion USD.

China continues to be the largest importer to Vietnam with a turnover of 65.438 billion USD, while one year ago it was 58.592 billion USD.

Other markets are: Taiwan (China) 13,228 billion USD; South Korea 47.497 billion USD (46,961); Japan 19.011 billion USD; Thailand more than 12 billion USD.

With a total turnover of 169.927 billion USD, the above 6 markets accounted for 71.8% of the total import turnover in the country in 2018.

The major groups of imported goods are: Computers, electronic products and components; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; phone types and components; fabric.

Specifically, computers, electronic products and components reached 42.2 billion USD, up 11.7%. With this import scale, computers, electronic products and components still maintain the leading position established since 2017. The main import markets are Korea, China, Japan .. .

Machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts reached 33.73 billion USD, down slightly by 0.5%, with the main markets being China, South Korea, Japan ...

Machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts reached 33.73 billion USD, down slightly by 0.5%, with the main markets being China, South Korea, Japan ...

Telephone and accessories reached 15.87 billion USD, down 3.5%. South Korea and China are still the two main markets that supply all kinds of phones and components to Vietnam with an import value of 93.2% for this item.

Textile and fabric products generated a turnover of USD 12.775 billion, up 12.2%. The major import markets for these product lines are concentrated in Asia such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan...

Another noticeable point in Vietnam's import and export activities in 2018, is the first time we have a market reaching the three-digit turnover scale. That is the Chinese market, with the total trade turnover of the two countries reaching 106.706 billion USD, an increase of 12.71 billion USD compared to the previous year, and accounting for 22.23% of the total import-export turnover our country last year.

By Thai Binh/Quynh Lan (Source: VCN)