Vietnam’s January exports up 50.5% year-on-year

Vietnam’s goods exports were valued at US$27.7 billion, up 0.2% from the previous month and 50.5% from the same period last year, according to the latest data unveiled by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

The GSO largely attributed the sharp year-on-year increase to multinational electronics producer Samsung of the Republic of Korea (RoK) stepping up production and export of its new Galaxy S21 series.

In January, six items enjoyed export revenues exceeding the US$1 billion benchmark, accounting for 67.3% of the total exports.

Best performers included the heavy industry and mining sector which earned US$15.6 billion in export revenue, up 71.6% year-on-year; and the light industry and handicrafts earning US$9.7 billion from export, up 32.3%.

Agriculture and forestry exported US$1.8 billion worth of products this month, up 21.4% year-on-year; while fisheries earned US$600 million, up 19.6%.

The US remained the largest importer of Vietnamese products in January, with a total of US$7.5 billion worth of shipments, up 57.4% from a year earlier.

It was followed by China (US$5.8 billion, up 111.6%), the EU (US$2.8 billion, 14.8%), ASEAN (US$2.3 billion, 31.9%), and Japan (US$1.9 billion, 22.7%).

Vietnam’s imports, meanwhile, stood at US$26.4 billion in January, representing a fall of 5.4% compared to December but a growth of 41% from the same period last year. Four items reported import turnover of more than US$1 billion, making up 50.6% of the total imports.

China remained Vietnam’s biggest supplier of products, with turnover of US$9.6 billion, 72.7% higher than the figure a year earlier.

It was followed by the RoK (US$5.1 billion, up 29.3%), ASEAN (US$3.4 billion, 63.3%), Japan (US$2 billion, 52.9%), and the EU (US$1.3 billion, 23.3%).

Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$1.3 billion this month, with the domestic economic sector recording a trade deficit of US$1.8 billion while the FDI sector (including crude oil) boasting a trade surplus of US$3.1 billion.

The GSO also announced that total retail sales of goods and services in January rose by 3.7% month-on-month and 6.4% year-on-year to VND479.9 trillion.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals totalled over 17,700, up 9% month-on-month and down 99.1% year-on-year.

VNA

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