Trade surplus continues to hold

Vietnam’s trade surplus has been rising since early 2016, reaching US$2.17 billion in the three first quarters, and is expected to go up in the last months of the year.

Vietnam exported US$15 billion worth of goods in September, down 6.8 percent compared with August. In the first nine months, the export value reached an estimated US$128.2 billion, up 6.7 percent compared with the same period last year, bringing Vietnam a trade surplus of US$2.17 billion. The domestic economic sector earned US$37 billion from exports, an increase of five percent compared with the first three quarters of 2015, while the export value of foreign invested companies, including crude oil businesses, reached US$91.2 billion, up 7.4 percent.

According to Duong Phuong Tho, Deputy Director of the Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, trade surplus in the first three quarters significantly contributed to stabilizing production and the monetary market as well as the macroeconomic situation.

The export growth achieved by the domestic economic sector was a satisfactory result following a long time when it faced numerous difficulties and even negative export growth.

Fruit and vegetables for the first time moved ahead of rice to stand at the number-one position in the export value list, recording a growth rate of 31 percent in the first nine months.

However, Vietnam still faces a lot of export difficulties due to decreases in the export prices of most products. Rice and cassava, which are key agricultural exports, saw a decline in both volume and value. Fuel and mineral exports continued to fall, while processing industry-related products grew a mere 8.5 percent in export value.

Many economists predicted Vietnam could hardly achieve the 10 percent export growth target set for this year.

The Minister of Industry and Trade has issued Instruction 06/CT-BCT regarding solutions to export difficulties. The Agency of Foreign Trade has worked with associations, sectors, and businesses to seek measures to achieve the highest possible export growth. Major trade promotion activities carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in recent times included participation in the 13th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO 2016), a Vietnamese Goods Week event in Japan, and a fair promoting Hanoi’s goods in Moscow (Russia).

Phuong Lan / ven