VINACHEM

In the first two months of this year, Vietnam reported a trade deficit of US$7.44 billion with China as the value of Chinese products shipped to Vietnam surged 65.9% year-on-year.

According to the General Department of Customs, Vietnam spent US$15.42 billion on Chinese imports, over US$6 billion higher than the figure in the same period last year. The growth of the import turnover from China during the period was the highest among Vietnam’s trade partners.

The strong growth has raised the proportion of the value of Chinese products in Vietnam’s total import turnover from 24.9% in January-February last year to 32.7% in the same period this year, or nearly a third of the country’s total import turnover.

The increased import turnover from the Chinese market was higher than the total import turnover from the ASEAN market of US$5.92 billion and that of the United States at US$2.26 billion.

According to the customs, Vietnam mainly imported technological and telecom products. Specifically, the value of computers, electronic products and accessories imported from China soared 78.3% to US$2.88 billion.

Additionally, machinery, equipment, tools and machine parts rose 70.7% to US$3.37 billion and phones and phone parts rocketed 82.7% to US$1.62 billion.

In the two months, China was the largest supplier of materials for Vietnam’s textile and garment sector, making up 51% and increasing a staggering 43.5% year-on-year.

On the other hand, Vietnam exported products worth some US$8 billion to the neighboring country in January-February, up 46.8% over the same period last year and accounting for 16.4% of its total export revenue.

The customs agency also revealed that in the first two months, Vietnam’s export revenue hit US$48.74 billion and its import turnover was US$47.11 billion, up 23.7% and 25.5%, respectively. As a result, Vietnam had a trade surplus of US$1.46 billion during the period.

- SGT-