Vietnam registered merchandise export growth of US$14.31 billion in October 2015, up 3.6% from $13.81 billion a month earlier, and 2.1% higher than in the same month of 2014, according to the latest data from Vietnam Customs.
The increase was due to higher shipments of rice; footwear; computers; and electrical products, spare parts, and components, said the agency.
On the other hand, merchandise imports fell 1.6% in October to $13.81 billion from $14.03 billion in September, and went down 0.9% year-on-year. Total external merchandise turnover rose 1% month-on-month to $28.13 billion, resulting in a $500 million surplus in Vietnam’s trade balance for October.
From January to October this year, trade-in-goods reached $272.40 billion in value terms, or 11% higher than in the first 10 months of 2014. Merchandise exports rose 8.3% in value to $134.41 billion year-over-year, while merchandise imports rose 13.7% to $137.99 billion, leading to a deficit of $3.58 billion in the Southeast Asian country’s trade balance for January-October.
Vietnam Customs said commodities that showed significant expansion in export value in January-October 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 were telephones, mobile phones, and parts; and computers, electrical products, spare parts, and components.
As for trading partners, Asia was the country’s biggest for the period January-October 2015, trading a total of $178.30 billion in value, up 9.7% compared to the same period in 2014. America came in second with $45.97 billion for a 19.9% rise. Vietnam’s other key partners for the period covered included Europe ($38.75 billion, up 11.4%); Oceania ($4.89 billion, down 16.8%), and Africa ($4.48 billion, up 13.9%) year-on-year.
By destination, the U.S. was the biggest recipient of Vietnamese products in the first 10 months of 2015, taking in $27.7 billion worth of merchandise shipments, followed by China, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
Photo: Lưu Ly
