Vietnam reported an estimated trade surplus of US$100 million in February, helping to narrow the trade deficit to US$176 million in the January-February period, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.

Data: GSO. Chart: Nguyen Tung.

Despite the negative impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic on trading activities, Samsung’s increasing exports of its new smartphone products helped Vietnam maintain positive growth in trade turnover in the first two months, the GSO assessed.

On breaking down, the domestic sector is estimated to have a trade deficit of US$3.94 billion in the January - February period while foreign-invested firms had a trade surplus of US$3.76 billion. The former’s exports are predicted to expand 6% year-on-year to US$11.41 billion during the period, accounting for 30.9% of total exports. Meanwhile, FDI firms reaped US$25.51 billion from overseas shipments, up 0.9% and accounting for 69.1% of the total.

In February, Vietnam exported goods worth an estimated US$18.6 billion, up 1.5% inter-monthly, while imports are estimated to have inched down 0.5% to US$18.5 billion.

Data: GSO. Chart: Nguyen Tung.

Overall, Vietnam's trade turnover is expected to reach US$74 billion in the January – February period, up 2.4% year-on-year, of which its export value could amount to US36.9 billion, up 2.4% year-on-year, and imports are estimated at US$37.1 billion, up 2.4%.

According to the report, Vietnam's export staples during the January - February period are electronic products, computers and components with estimated US$5.4 billion, up 26.7% year-on-year; garment with US$4.5 billion, down 1.7%; equipment and parts with US$3 billion, up 19.6%; footwear with US$2.7 billion, up 3%; wood and wooden products with US$1.5 billion, up 7.1%; transportation vehicles with US$1.4 billion, up 4%. 

Phones and parts are predicted to earn the largest export turnover of US$6.9 billion, up 2.3% year-on-year. 

In the January – February period, the US remained Vietnam's biggest export market, spending US$9.8 billion on Vietnamese goods, up 19.6% year-on-year, followed by the European Union with US$5 billion, down 7.7%, and China with US$4.8 billion, up 3.7%. 

Meanwhile, China continued to be Vietnam's largest supplier, selling S$10 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, down 0.4% year-on-year. 

South Korea could claim the second place by exporting US$8 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, up 9% year-on-year, followed by ASEAN with US$4.5 billion, down 9.6%.