Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in whole year 2018

Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in whole year 2018

​ ​Highlights

1.  According to trade statistics of Vietnam Customs, in December 2018, a 7.5% downward in total external merchandise turnover of Vietnam was recorded on month-on-month basis. Exports went down 9.7%, to USD 19.64 billion and imports decreased 5.3%, to USD 20.45 billion as compared to the result of November 2018. As a result, there was a USD 811 million deficit in Vietnam’s trade balance in this month.

2. From the beginning to December of 2018, Vietnam‘s trade-in-goods totaled US dollars 480.17 billion in value terms, 12.2% above the corresponding period of last year. On year-on-year basis, total merchandise exports value rose 13.2%, to US dollars 243.48 billion and the total merchandise imports value increased 11.1% to US dollars 236.69 billion. Accordingly, Vietnam’s trade balance in whole year 2018 was in the surplus of US dollars 6.8 billion.

3. Trade data disseminated recently by Vietnam Customs announced that the total value of exportation and importation by foreign direct invested (FDI) traders reached USD 313.21 billion in total from beginning to December 2018, up by  11.7% as compared to the result of corresponding period of 2017. Total value of FDI exportation was USD 171.53 billion, went up by 12.4 %. On import side, the total value of those companies was USD 141.68 billion, went up by 10.8%.

Main Exports and Imports                        

4. On a month-on-month basis, a decrease in total merchandise exports was due to the downturns in telephones, mobile phones, parts and thereof (down by USD 1.9 billion); still image, video cameras and parts thereof (down by USD 192 million); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (down by USD 176 million); machine, equipment, tools and instruments (down by USD 75 million)…

5. On a year-on-year basis, exports expanded USD 28.36 billion. The main products, which contributed to the increase, were textiles and garments (up by USD 4.37 billion); telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (up by USD 3.81 billion); machine, equipment, tools and instruments (up by USD 3.64 billion); computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 3.34 billion)...

6. On a month-on-month basis, a reduction in total merchandise imports value was due to the downturns of the commodities as follows: machine, equipment, tools and instruments (up by USD 306 million); telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof (up by USD 277 million); petroleum products (down by USD 130 million);…

7. On a year-on-year basis, imports went up USD 23.68 billion. The growth in imports was mainly contributed by the upwards of the following products: computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof (up by USD 4.42 billion); crude oil (up by USD 2.27 billion); plastics (up by USD 1.48 million) … 

Trading Partners

8. In 2018, Vietnamese merchandise trade with trading partners in Asia was totaled USD 321.40 billion in value terms, which moved up 11.9% as compared to the same period of 2017. Trade-in-goods of Vietnam with America was followed, which reached USD 78.37 billion and increased by 14.6%. The values of other continents were Europe: USD 64.11 billion, up by 10.5%; Oceania: USD 9.31 billion, up by 19.1% and Africa: USD 6.98 billion, up by 3.9% in comparison with the same period of last year.

9. For January-December period of 2018, 4 importing markets of Vietnam with turnover of over USD 18 billion were: The United States of America (reached USD 47.5 billion); China (reached USD 41.3 billion); Japan (reached USD 18.9 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 18.2 billion).

10. According to the following chart, top 3 big sources of Vietnam’s imports were as follows: China (reached USD 65.4 billion); Republic of Korea (reached USD 47.5 billion); Japan (reached USD 19 billion).