Trade surplus skyrockets in August

By Hung Le August 29, 2019 | 09:00 pm PT

Containers are loaded at a port in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Reuters/Kham.

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of $1.7 billion in August, nearly equaling that of the first 7 months of this year.

The country exported goods worth $24.5 billion in August, up 6.6. percent year-on-year, while imports fell 0.6 percent to $22.8 billion, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

Between January and August, exports totaled $169.98 billion, up 7.3 percent, while imports rose 8.5 percent to $166.58 billion. The trade surplus of $3.4 billion was a 21.4 percent increase year-on-year.

Items that generated the most export revenue in the first eight months were phones, electronics, computers and components, textiles and garments, footwear and machinery. Phones and phone components continued to generate the largest proportion, accounting for $33 billion, or 19.4 percent of export turnover.

Electronics, computers and components made up the largest proportion of imported items (20.2 percent) followed by machinery, fabric, and automobiles, which saw a surge of 60.3 percent over the same period last year.

In the first eight months, the U.S. was Vietnam’s largest export market with a turnover of $38.6 billion, up 25.3 percent year-on-year, followed by the EU, China, ASEAN and Japan.

It imported most from China, 18.2 percent of all imports, followed by South Korea, ASEAN, Japan and the EU.