Import and export of goods continue to flourish

Import and export highlights

With active and synchronous measures to remove difficulties to support domestic production, promote trade, and expand export markets continuing to be strongly implemented, import and export activities continued to show positive signs, regaining growth momentum in October 2023 after slowing down in the previous month. The latest updated data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that the total import and export turnover of goods in October is estimated at 61.62 billion USD, up 4.1% over the previous month and up 5.6% over the same period last year.

Export of goods gradually improves

In the first 10 months, the total import-export turnover of goods is estimated at 557.95 billion USD, down 9.6% over the same period last year.

Regarding goods exports, after a decline in goods export turnover in September (down 6.3%), goods export turnover in October regained growth momentum, estimated at 32.3 billion USD, up 5.3% over the previous month.

Compared to the same period last year, the export turnover of goods in October increased by 5.9%, of which the domestic economic sector increased by 15.1%, the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) increased by 3%. This is a very positive bright spot when the growth rate of domestic enterprises was 5 times higher than that of the foreign-invested sector.

In the first 10 months of 2023, the total export turnover of goods is estimated at 291.28 billion USD, down 7.1% over the same period last year, showing that the decline in export growth has narrowed significantly compared to the 12% decrease in the first half of 2023. In the first 10 months, there were 33 items with an export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 92.9% of the total export turnover (there were 07 items with an export turnover of over 10 billion USD, accounting for 66.2%).

Regarding the structure of export goods, in October 2023, the export turnover of most major commodities achieved positive growth compared to the same period last year due to the recovery in demand and the relatively low base level in the last months of 2022. In particular, the export of processed industrial goods continued to have a positive recovery in October with an export turnover increase of 4.6%. However, in the 10 months, the export turnover of this group decreased by 8.3% compared to the same period in 2022, estimated at 247.34 billion USD.

Meanwhile, although the export of some processed industrial products such as textiles, footwear, wood and wood products, etc. has shown positive signs of recovery recently, the overall recovery momentum is still slow.

Export turnover of fuel and mineral products in October 2023 decreased by 51.1% compared to the same period in 2022. In the first 10 months, export turnover of this product group decreased by 20.2% compared to the same period in 2022, estimated at only 3.27 billion USD.

Rice is an export commodity with high growth rate.

On the other hand, agricultural products continue to make impressive contributions, being a bright spot in the country's export activities, especially agricultural products such as rice, vegetables, coffee, cashew nuts, etc. The export turnover of agricultural and aquatic products in October is estimated at 3 billion USD, up 18.3% over the same period last year. This is also the only product group that recorded growth in the first 10 months of 2023, with an estimated export turnover of 26.7 billion USD, up 3.8%.

Rice is one of the commodities with high export turnover in the past 10 months. Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said that the price of rice among the people is at a record high, pushing domestic rice prices higher than export prices. This is also the reason why Vietnam's rice export prices are constantly going against the world trend.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Viet - Director of the Planning Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), compared to the rice price fever in 2008, this year Vietnam has taken better advantage of market opportunities. According to calculations from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the highest scenario, in 2023 Vietnam can export about 7.8 million tons of rice, with a turnover of about 4.2 - 4.5 billion USD.

Regarding the structure of commodity export markets: In general, all industries are facing difficulties in export markets due to the decrease in total demand in the world, especially for non-essential consumer goods, so our country's export turnover in the first 10 months of 2023 to most key markets decreased, however, the level of decline tends to gradually narrow and the level of impact on exports of each industry is different (exports to the Asian market decreased by 2%; the European market decreased by 7.2%; the American market decreased by 15.8%; the African market increased by 6.1%; Oceania decreased by 6.5%).

Regarding goods imports, the import turnover of goods in October 2023 is estimated at 29.31 billion USD, up 2.9% over the previous month. In the first 10 months of 2023, the import turnover of goods is estimated at 266.67 billion USD, down 12.3% over the same period last year.

One of the positive points in October was that the import turnover of raw materials for export production continued to increase. Of which, the group of raw materials for production still accounted for a large proportion of the total import turnover of goods nationwide, estimated at 26.09 billion USD, up 7.2% over the same period last year and accounting for 89% of the total import turnover of the country, showing signs of recovery in industrial production. Of which, the import turnover of computers, electronic products and components reached 8.2 billion USD, up 26.4% over the same period last year; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts reached 3.5 billion USD, up 2.4%; fabrics of all kinds increased by 8%, steel of all kinds increased by 35.2%; petroleum of all kinds increased by 44.8%...

Due to a sharper decrease in imports than exports, Vietnam's trade balance in October continued to have a trade surplus of about 3 billion USD, bringing the total trade surplus in the first 10 months of 2023 to 24.61 billion USD (in the same period last year, the trade surplus was 9.56 billion USD).

What challenges do import and export face at the end of the year?

Assessing the import-export situation from now until the end of the year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that global economic growth is low, global consumer demand is still weak, protectionist barriers are increasing, and many countries continue to maintain tight monetary policies. In addition, major economies that are Vietnam's export partners such as the United States and the EU have reduced spending on purchasing common and luxury products, causing the volume of orders to decrease, while domestic industrial production sectors are mainly export-oriented, heavily dependent on the global market because domestic production output far exceeds domestic market demand, especially for industries such as textiles, footwear, electronics, etc., which only supply 10% of domestic demand, the remaining 90% of output is for export.

In addition, China’s reopening also creates a lot of competitive pressure on Vietnam’s exports of the same type. Meanwhile, our businesses are still facing many difficulties due to the decrease in foreign orders, the domestic market’s low purchasing power, high input costs, and difficulty in accessing credit…

In that context, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will promote negotiations and signing of new agreements, commitments and trade links, including completing the implementation of the FTA with Israel, signing FTAs and trade agreements with other potential partners (UAE, MERCOSUR...) to diversify markets, products and supply chains.

At the same time, support businesses to take advantage of commitments in FTAs, especially CPTPP, EVFTA, UKVFTA to boost exports, through propaganda on rules of origin and issuance of Certificates of Origin, opportunities and ways to take advantage of opportunities from the Agreements.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with China to open more export markets for other Vietnamese fruits and vegetables such as green-skinned grapefruit, fresh coconut, avocado, pineapple, star apple, lemon, melon, etc. Improve efficiency and regulate the speed of customs clearance of import and export goods at border gates between Vietnam and China, especially for seasonal agricultural and aquatic products; quickly and strongly shift to official export.

In addition, strengthen early warning of trade defense lawsuits; guide businesses on how to respond to lawsuits; promptly inform businesses and associations about market needs, new regulations...

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