Vietnam's trade ranking has continuously improved over the years, making the country continuously present in the group of countries/territories with the largest import and export value.
Notably, while the rankings of ASEAN countries have not increased, Vietnam's rankings have made remarkable growth in recent years.
Specifically, in 2021, Vietnam's export value of goods ranks 23rd in the world, and its import value ranks 20th worldwide. Since 2019, Vietnam has ranked 2nd in ASEAN in terms of import and export value, surpassing Thailand, and Malaysia, only behind Singapore in total import and export value.
Statistics also show that since 2012, Vietnam's merchandise trade balance has achieved a continuous surplus after a long period of trade deficit.
In 2021, Vietnam had a trade surplus of about 8 billion USD. In 2022, the trade surplus is forecasted to increase to about 10 billion USD.
According to the WTO, since the landmark year of 1995, nearly 30 years have passed, and the Vietnamese economy has made strong changes. The country has been gradually implementing the foreign policy of multilateralization and diversification, taking advantage of the possibility of cooperation in trade, investment, integration, technology transfer, and economic development.
Vietnam’s import and export activities have made strong strides, continuously achieving record milestones.
Vietnam's total import and export value reached 100 billion USD in 2007. Four years later, the total import and export value doubled, reaching 200 billion USD in 2011.
By 2015, the total import-export value reached 300 billion USD. Since then, every 2 years, Vietnam's total import and export value has increased by 100 billion USD.
Accordingly, the total import-export value in 2017 reached 400 billion USD, in 2019 reached 500 billion USD, and by the end of November 2021, it reached 600 billion USD.
In this year, as of December 2022, the total import and export value of Vietnam's goods is estimated at 700 billion USD.
The increase in the import and export value of Vietnam's goods in recent years is associated with the process of international economic integration. Vietnam has joined dozens of free trade agreements on a global scale.
At the same time, FDI inflows into Vietnam also increased sharply. The FDI sector has continuously accounted for over 70% of Vietnam's export value in recent years.
The largest export market of Vietnam is currently the US and EU, while the largest import market of Vietnam is China.
According to newly released data from the General Statistics Office, in November 2022, the total import and export turnover of goods was estimated at 57.58 billion USD, down 1.2% over the previous month and down 7.8% compared with the same period last year.
In the first 11 months of 2022, the total import and export turnover of goods is estimated at 673.82 billion USD, up 11.8% over the same period last year. Exports were estimated at 342.21 billion USD, up 13.4%. Imports were estimated at 331.61 billion USD, up 10.1%.
Thus, with the above results, in the first 11 months of 2022, the trade balance of goods is estimated to have a trade surplus of 10.6 billion USD. The domestic economic sector had a trade deficit of 27.97 billion USD; the FDI sector, including crude oil, had a trade surplus of 38.57 billion USD.
The United States is Vietnam's largest export market, with an estimated turnover of 101.5 billion USD. China is Vietnam's largest import market, with an estimated turnover of 109.9 billion USD.
In 11 months of 2022, Vietnam's trade surplus to the EU was estimated at 29.4 billion USD, up 42.4% over the same period last year. The trade deficit from China was 56.9 billion USD, up 14.1%; the trade deficit from Korea was 35.7 billion USD, up 16.1%; the trade deficit from ASEAN was 12.2 billion USD, up 9.4%; the trade deficit from Japan was 139 million USD.
However, Vietnam’s export activities are facing difficulties as the market is narrowing. Some of the country’s primary export products to the EU and US markets are facing pressure on trade remedy investigation and origin fraud. The European market is building up technical barriers related to the environment, sustainable development, green transformation, etc., making businesses passive and facing many disadvantages in market access.
In addition, Vietnamese goods have to compete fiercely with China's export products of the same type in the EU, US, Japan, East Asian markets, etc., due to China's loosening of monetary. The strong depreciation of the yuan makes the price of Chinese exports cheaper.
Compiled by VietnamCredit
