Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of $19.07 billion in the first 8 months of this year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on September 6.
In the reviewed period, the country’s trade turnover reached over $511 billion, up 16.7% over the same period last year, with exports totaling $265 billion and imports $246 billion, up 15.8% and 17.7% year-on-year, respectively.
Of the export value, that from the domestic sector reached $73.88 billion, accounting for 27.9%; and the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) $72.1 billion.
In the first 8 months, Vietnam had 30 items with export turnover of over $1 billion, making up 92.3% of the total export turnover. Particularly, six posted a turnover of over $10 billion, accounting for 62.6% of the country’s total figure.
Meanwhile, regarding the import value, the domestic sector saw a rise of 19.7% to $89.58 billion and the foreign-invested sector 16.9% to $156.44 billion.
In August alone, the trade value reached $70.65 billion, up 0.8% month-on-month and 13.5% over the same period last year. Of the figure, exports were worth $37.59 billion, an increase of 3.7% against July, while imports dropped 2.4% month on month to $33.06 billion.
The U.S. is Vietnam’s largest importer with a revenue of $77.9 billion, while China is the country’s largest exporter with $92.3 billion.
Former GSO Director Nguyen Bich Lam said that if Vietnam’s exports keep increasing month over month in the remaining four months of 2024, its total export turnover of goods this year is estimated to set a new record of $400 billion, far exceeding the historical milestone of $371.82 billion made in 2022.