Trade deficit looms for Vietnam despite positive start to 2016

• Vietnam relies on China for medicinal herbs amid limited domestic supplies
• U.S. detects banned substances in Vietnamese seafood exports
• Vietnamese exports to Canada surpass rest of Southeast Asia
• Thailand surpasses China to dominate Vietnam’s fruit market
• Vietnamese rice exports unlikely to suffer from Thailand’s massive stockpile sale

Vu Ba Phu, general director of the Department of Planning under the ministry, explained that the free trade agreements Vietnam has joined will draw many foreign-invested projects, boosting demand for imported machinery and equipment.

Data from the department also showed that Vietnam saw a trade surplus of $1.36 billion over the first five months of the year, with export value recorded at $67.7 billion, surpassing import value at $66.3 billion.

While state-owned enterprises recorded a trade deficit of $7.74 billion in the first five months, companies with foreign invested capital posted a trade surplus of $9.1 billion.

China remained the biggest supplier of Vietnam’s imports with a turnover of $19.2 billion, down 2.9 percent on-year, followed by Japan at $5.7 billion, down 6.4 percent.