Vietnam’s export revenue surge 6.6 percent

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), the export revenue of Vietnam in the first five months of this year reached more than 67.7 billion USD, surging 6.6 percent against the same period la

Of the sum, domestic enterprises contributed over 19.44 billion USD, up 3.9 percent year-on-year, while the remainder of more than 48.26 billion USD came from foreign-funded firms, up 7.7 percent aginst the same period last year.

Mobile phones and spare parts took the lead in export revenue with 14.44 billion USD, which made up 21.3 percent of Vietnam’s export turnover in the first five months. Last year, mobile phones and spare parts became the first commodity to surpass export revenue of 30 billion USD. It is expected that Vietnam’s export turnover from mobile phones and spare parts in 2016 likely is more than 36 billion USD.

Key export products of Vietnam recording a strong increase in export value in the the first five months of 2016 included: vegetables and fruit, growing 53.7 percent to 1 billion USD; telephones and their components, up 20.6 percent to 14.4 billion USD; machines and equipment, with a rise of 16.2 percent to 3.6 billion USD; and handbags, hats and umbrellas, up 12.1 percent to 1.3 billion USD. Other products with encouraging export growth were: rice, up 8.4 percent; electronics, computer and parts, up 5.4 percent; footwear, up 6 percent; and seafood, up 5.6 percent.

Vietnam’s “one-billion USD” club, which comprises exports with turnover of more than 1 billion USD, has been expanded after admitting an additional 12 exports as its members in the first five months of the year.

Garment and textile products which listed in the club with 8.6 billion USD in export revenue. The export revenue in the five month period in 2016 recorded a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent and is expected to exceed 24.5 billion USD for the whole year. Major export markets of this commodity were the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea (the RoK) and Spain.

Computers and spare parts was also listed in the club which had an export revenue of 6.34 billion USD in the first five months of this year, an increase of 5.4 percent compared to the same period in 2015. Export revenue reaching over 100 million USD was seen in ten markets, including China (854 million USD), the US (820 million USD) and the Netherlands (539 million USD).

Footwear also named in the one-billion USD club with 4.96 billion USD earned in foreign markets during the five month period. The largest consumption markets were the US (1.33 billion USD), China (253 million USD) and Japan (226 million USD). Total export revenue of the commodity is forecast at 12.7 billion USD in 2016.

Machines, equipment and tools, aquaculture products, coffee, accessories (handbags, purses, suitcases and umbrellas), rice and vegetables were also present in the club with export value of 3.63 billion USD, 2.54 billion USD, 2.45 billion USD, 1.33 billion USD, 1.13 billion USD and 1.01 billion USD, respectively.

However, the export turnover of some major export items significant reduced significantly, such as: crude oil, down 49.2 percent to 883 million USD; steel and iron, reduce 10.2 percent to 649 million USD; and cassava, slumping 22.7 percent year-on-year.

The GSO also reported the Vietnam’s import revenue in the first five month of 2016 modestly decreased by 1 percent year-on-year to above 66.34 billion USD, with 27.2 billion USD from domestic enterprises and 39.1 billion USD from foreign-funded businesses.That resulted in a trade surplus of 1.36 billion USD in five months, lower than the 1.46 billion USD recorded during the same period last year.

China remained Vietnam’s largest import market. During the period, Vietnam paid 19.2 billion USD for imports from China: five times and six times higher than figures from the EU and the US, respectively.

Vietnam’s five-month import value from this neighboring nation also doubled that from ASEAN countries and tripled that from Japan.

Vietnam has set the twin goals of fetching a total of 178 billion USD from exports by year-end, up 10 percent from a year ago, and controlling trade deficit at 5 percent.

Experts forecast that this target is not difficult as export opportunities for Vietnam is increasing after some of the bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements recently signed by Vietnam take effect.