According to a report of the General Statistics Office (GSO) published on March 29, the total import-export turnover of Vietnam in March 2023 is estimated at USD 58.49 billion, an increase of 18.6% compared to February 2023 and a decrease of 13% compared to the same period in 2022.

In the first quarter of 2023, the total import-export turnover of Vietnam was estimated at USD 154.27 billion, a decrease of 13.3% over the same period in 2022.

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of USD 4.07 billion in the first quarter. In which, the domestic economic sector had a trade deficit of USD 6.77 billion; FDI sector (including crude oil) had a trade surplus of USD 10.84 billion.

The US continued to be Vietnam's largest export market in the first quarter with an estimated turnover of USD 20.6 billion. In contrast, China is the largest import market with an estimated turnover of USD 23.6 billion.

In the first quarter, trade surplus with the US is estimated at USD 17.5 billion, a decrease of 23.4% over the same period last year; trade surplus with the EU is estimated at USD 6.9 billion, a decrease of 10.1%; trade deficit with China of USD 12.1 billion, a decrease of 15.4%; trade deficit with Korea Republic of USD 6.3 billion, a decrease of 40.1%; trade deficit with ASEAN of USD 2 billion, a decrease of 46.3%; trade deficit with Japan of USD 158.5 million, a decrease of 66.4%.

In March 2023, Vietnam's export turnover of goods is estimated at USD 29.57 billion, an increase of 13.5% over the previous month. Compared to the same period in 2022, the export turnover of goods in March decreased by 14.8%.

In the first quarter of 2023, Vietnam's export turnover of goods is estimated at USD 79.17 billion, a decrease of 11.9% over the same period last year.

In the first quarter, Vietnam had 14 items with export turnover of over USD 1 billion, accounting for 77.4% of total export turnover (with 4 export items exceeding USD 5 billion, accounting for 52.8%).

The three item groups with the largest export turnover are phones and components; computers, electronics and components; equipment, tools and spare parts respectively. The total turnover of the above 3 items reached USD 34.6 billion, accounting for 43% of the total export turnover of Vietnam in the quarter.

Notably, only 9 out of 34 main export items (as announced by GSO) recorded positive growth over the same period in 2022. In which, rice is the commodity with the highest growth rate with 30.2%; followed by crude oil with +17%; paper and paper products +14.4%; cashew nut +14.2%; means of transport and spare parts +10.8%, etc.

Kylie Nguyen