In the first month of 2020, the country posted a trade deficit of US$100 million, the General Statistics Office has reported.
Exports during January fell 15.8% from the previous month to an estimated US$19 billion, with the domestic sector having shipped US$6.31 billion worth of goods abroad, down 23.1%.
The foreign sector, in the meantime, recorded total revenue of US$12.69 billion, including oil revenue, a decrease of 11.6%.
The United States remained the largest buyer of Vietnamese goods, purchasing US$4.8 billion in January, followed by China and the EU with US$3.7 billion and US$2.6 billion, respectively.
Vietnamese exports to ASEAN and Japan were both at US$1.6 billion while exports to the Republic of Korea reached US$1.3 billion.
On the opposite side, Vietnam imported US$19.1 billion worth of goods in January, down 14.4% compared with the previous month.
Imports by the domestic and foreign sectors dropped 17.7% and 11.3%, respectively.
China was the largest source of Vietnam’s imports, with an estimated US$6.2 billion in the first month of 2020, followed by the Republic of Korea and ASEAN at US$3.2 billion and US$2.4 billion, respectively.
Vietnam imported US$1.5 billion worth of goods from Japan and US$1.2 billion each from the EU and the United States.
– NDO