VINACHEM

Vietnam’s trade surplus in January-October reached an all-time high of US$7.2 billion, well above the full-year figure of US$2.1 billion for 2017, backed by the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Customs data shows that the total value of imports and exports as of late October amounted to roughly US$397 billion, of which the country exported goods worth more than US$202 billion, a 15.2% rise over the year-ago period.

The FDI sector gained a staggering US$142.8 billion in export revenue, rising by 15% from a year earlier and accounting for nearly 71% of the country’s export value.

In terms of markets, Vietnam gained a trade surplus with countries from the Americas and Europe while the country suffered a trade deficit with other Asian countries.

For example, Vietnam produced a trade surplus of more than US$28.7 billion with the United States in the 10-month period. The full-year figure for 2017 was some US$32.2 billion.

Phones and phone parts took the lead in exports, followed by textiles and garments, computers and electronics, machinery and spare parts, footwear, seafood, wood and wooden products, vehicles and their spare parts, cameras and camcorders, and iron and steel products.

Compared with the same period last year, phones and phone parts saw their exports expand by US$4.6 billion, textiles and garments by US$3.6 billion and computers and electronics by US$3.3 billion. - SGT -