File photo of a forklift truck moving shipping containers at a sea port near HCMC. Vietnam’s trade deficit with China in the January-April period is nearing US$12 billion. (Source: Saigon Times)

China remained the largest supplier of goods to Vietnam during the period, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

In the four-month period, Vietnam spent US$22.3 billion importing products from its northern neighbor, marking an increase of 18.8%.

Vietnam also incurred a trade deficit of US$9.3 billion with South Korea, followed by that with the ASEAN at US$2.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the country enjoyed the largest trade surplus of US$9.1 billion with the European Union, down by 2.3% over the same period last year.

According to the GSO, the country exported US$78.76 billion worth of products in the four-month period, up 5.8% year-on-year. Of the total, domestic firms contributed US$23.33 billion and foreign-invested enterprises, US$55.43 billion.

During the period, 16 commodities reported export revenue of more than US$1 billion each, accounting for 81.2% of the total export revenue. Phones and phone parts topped the list at US$16 billion, followed by computers, electronic products and accessories at US$9.6 billion; textiles and garments at US$9.4 billion; and footwear at US$5.3 billion.

Meanwhile, some agricultural products posted a decline in export revenue, including coffee (down 22.6%), cashew nuts (down 16.9%), rice (down 21.7%) and pepper (down 12%).

On the other hand, Vietnam spent US$78.05 billion on imports, up 10.4% over the year-ago period. As many as 17 commodities registered import turnover of more than US$1 billion each, making up 76.3% of the total import turnover.

Thus, the country still enjoyed a trade surplus of US$711 million in the first four months of the year, much lower than the US$3.7 billion seen in the same period last year.

Saigon Times