Vietnam’s trade deficit was estimated at US$3.08 billion in the first seven months of this year, US$380 million more than US$2.7 billion in the first half, according to the latest data released by the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The trade deficit from January-July equaled 2.7% of the country’s export revenue in the period, GSO said.
The office said the trade deficit was driven by an upward trend in imports, due to high demand for manufacturing, processing, and exporting.
During the period, the trade deficit incurred by the domestic sector totaled US$14.7 billion, while the foreign-invested sector continued its trade deficit with a mark of US$11.69 billion.
Import turnover during the first seven months jumped by 24% year-on-year to US$118.3 billion, with imports by the domestic sector touching US$46.9 billion, an 18.4% increase, while those of the foreign-invested sector were US$71.4 billion, an increase of 24%.
The import value registered a year-on-year surge of 37.4% for machines, equipment, tools and components to reach US$21.4 billion, 30.6% for telephone and its components to reach US$7.3 billion, 27.4% for electronic products, computer and their components to reach US$19.2 billion and 16.7% for steel to reach US$5.2 billion.
China still accounted for the largest share of Vietnam’s imports at US$31.7 billion, a year-on-year surge of 15.8%. The Republic of Korea and ASEAN came second and third with US$26.7 billion and US$16 billion respectively.
Meanwhile, export turnover during seven months rose 18.7% year-on-year to US$115.2 billion. Of the estimate, exports by the domestic sector totaling US$32.2 billion, a 14.6% increase, while those of the foreign-invested sector reached US$83.1 billion, an increase of 20.3%.
The first seven months of 2017 continued to see steady growth of Vietnam’s main exports, with phones and components up 15% to US$22.6 billion, garments up 8.1% to US$14.2 billion and footwear up 12.9% to US$8.4 billion.
Other key exports such as machinery, seafood, timber and coffee posted strong growth.
The United States remained the largest consumer of Vietnamese goods at US$23.4 billion, followed by the EU and China at US$21.5 billion and US$15.5 billion, respectively.
VNS