In the first month of 2024, Vietnam recorded export turnover of nearly USD 33.6 billion, an increase of 42% over the same period last year, and the highest level since April 2022.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, import and export of goods in the first month of 2024 increased sharply, reaching more than USD 64 billion, an increase of nearly 38% over the same period last year. Exports alone increased by 42%, about USD 33.6 billion. This is also the highest increase since April 2022 (USD 33.26 billion).

Exports increased strongly thanks to the motivation from two main groups: agriculture, forestry, fisheries and processing industry with increases of nearly 97% and 38% respectively. Phone exports and components of all kinds in the first month of this year are estimated to reach nearly USD 6 billion. This is an increase of more than 56% compared to the previous month as Samsung just launched the new product line Samsung Galaxy S24 in mid-January.

Agricultural products continue to be a bright spot in the country's export picture thanks to price advantage. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that the average coffee price reached USD 2,955 per ton, an increase of more than 35%; rice at USD 693 per ton, 33.5% more expensive than the same period.

The US is still Vietnam's largest import market, with USD 9.6 billion, an increase of nearly 56% over the same period. Traditional export markets such as China, EU, or ASEAN increased by 58%, 18% and 38% respectively.

Vietnam's imports of more than USD 30.6 billion, of which nearly 95% is the group of production materials for the Lunar New Year 2024. China is still the largest export market to Vietnam, with nearly USD 11 billion, an increase of 50% over the same period last year.

Thus, the trade balance continues to have a surplus like last year, USD 2.9 billion. The domestic economic sector has a trade deficit of more than USD 2 billion, while the group with foreign investment capital (including crude oil) has a trade surplus of over USD 5 billion.

Vietnam mainly has a trade surplus with the US and China, with USD 8.2 billion and USD 4.8 billion. In contrast, trade deficit from Korea Republic and ASEAN decreased by 25% and 11% over the same period.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade forecasts that this year's exports would still face many challenges due to increasingly fierce strategic competition between major countries and escalating Red Sea tensions, causing transport costs to increase dramatically. In addition to stimulating domestic consumption, the ministry said it and other agencies will promote production right from the beginning of the year, especially removing difficulties for businesses to recover and create new production capacity.

Kylie Nguyen