The Ministry of Industry and Trade held a meeting with major electronics enterprises in Hanoi on October 30 to assess the sector’s production and trade performance, examine the cause of its trade deficit and discuss development prospects.
In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Luong Hoang Thai highlighted the electronics industry’s significant contribution to national exports, calling on businesses and experts to analyse its import-export structure, identify challenges and propose solutions to improve its development prospects.
According to the ministry’s Agency of Foreign Trade, the total trade turnover was estimated at 1.010 trillion USD in the first 10 months of 2026, up 32.3% year on year, surpassing the 1-trillion-USD mark. October alone saw an estimated 122.2 billion USD in trade, up 47.6%.
Exports reached an estimated 499 billion USD during January-October period, rising 27.4%. The performance is expected to help the country meet or exceed its full-year export growth target of 15-16%.
Electronics remained one of Vietnam’s key export sectors. Data from the Department of Customs under the Ministry of Finance showed that by October 15, exports of computers, electronic products and components, as well as telephones and components, had reached 189.65 billion USD, accounting for around 40% of the country's total export value.
Computers, electronic products and components generated 135.3 billion USD, up 65% year on year, driven partly by rising global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) equipment and data centres.
However, imports of the two product groups totalled 209.7 billion USD, including approximately 201 billion USD worth of computers, electronic products and components.
Although telephones and components posted a surplus of more than 45.67 billion USD, the combined trade balance of the two groups remained in deficit by around 20 billion USD.
The country's trade balance shifted to a deficit in 2026 after maintaining surpluses for 10 consecutive years, highlighting the need to examine the country's import-export structure, particularly in the electronics sector.
At the meeting, Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Agency of Foreign Trade, said Vietnam has become an important electronics manufacturing destination in global supply chains, hosting major corporations such as Samsung, LG, Intel, Foxconn and Canon.
However, the production structure remained uneven, with foreign-invested enterprises dominating manufacturing, assembly and exports, while domestic businesses were mainly involved in component production, supporting industries and technical services.
A major cause of the trade deficit was the sharp increase in imports of raw materials and components. Prices of certain types of chips surged 300-500%, pushing up import values even without a proportionate increase in import volumes.
Businesses also increased stockpiling to meet production requirements while expanding factories, production lines and export capacity, driving up demand for imported machinery, equipment and inputs.
The industry's heavy reliance on imported components and materials, coupled with limited domestic content and locally generated added value, remained another major challenge.
To address these shortcomings, the Agency of Foreign Trade proposed attracting investment in strategic electronics segments, developing the semiconductor industry, strengthening research and development, upgrading supporting industries and fostering closer links between foreign-invested and domestic enterprises.
Other priorities include diversifying export markets and supply sources, improving workforce quality and logistics capacity, and helping Vietnam move beyond manufacturing and assembly towards higher-value activities in global electronics supply chains./.
