Trade surplus hits all-time high of US$20.1 billion in 11 months

The General Statistics Office of Vietnam has just announced that the import and export activities of Vietnam in the first 11 months of this year saw a record-high trade surplus of US$20.1 billion, despite the context that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to develop complicatedly, negatively affecting the world economy.
Particularly, the 11-month total export and import turnover were estimated at $489.1 billion, up 3.5 percent over the same period last year. Of which, exports reached $254.6 billion, up 5.3 percent, and imports reached $234.5 billion, up 1.5 percent.

In November alone, domestic trade rose by 2.3 percent from the previous month and by 8.5 percent from the same period last year. Of which, the retail sales of goods jumped by 13.2 percent. Transport edged up by 2.3 percent in the number of passengers and 5.3 percent in the volume of goods transported over the previous month. Foreign visitors to Vietnam surged by 19.6 percent compared to last month but fell by 99 percent year-on-year because Vietnam continues to carry out measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 pandemic and has not opened international tourism.

The total retail sales of consumer goods and services in November were estimated at VND464.4 trillion, up 2.3 percent compared to the previous month and up 8.5 percent over the same period last year. Generally, total retail sales of consumer goods and services in the first 11 months of this year surpassed VND4.59 quadrillion, up 2 percent over the same period last year.

As for the structure of export goods in 11 months, the heavy industrial and mineral products were estimated at $138 billion, up 9.2 percent over the same period last year. Light industry and handicraft products reached an estimate of $90.2 billion, up 1.5 percent. The group of agricultural and forestry products touched $18.7 billion, down 0.1 percent. The group of aquatic products reached $7.7 billion, down 0.9 percent.

As for export markets, the US was the largest export market of Vietnam in the first 11 months of this year with an export turnover of $69.9 billion, up 25.7 percent over the same period last year. China was next with $43.1 billion, up 16 percent. The EU market brought in $32.2 billion, down 2.4 percent. The ASEAN market reached $20.9 billion, down 10.6 percent. South Korean market hit $17.7 billion, down 2.7 percent. Japan touched $17.3 billion, down 6.5 percent.

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