Vietnam’s trade performance in early 2022 has been showing positive signs with a total turnover of US$58.5 billion, representing an increase of 6.3% year-on-year.

Seafood has been among Vietnam's key export staples. Photo: Viet Dung

Upon breaking down, Vietnam exported goods worth $30.8 billion during the first month, up 8.1% year-on-year, and imports of $29.4 billion, or an increase of 11.3%. This led to a  trade surplus of $1.39 billion.

A highlight from the result was the contribution of the domestic sector by posting an export growth of 26.8% year-on-year, significantly higher than that of the foreign-invested sector (2.4%) and the national average (8.1%).

“This shows that local firms have been able to take advantage of preferential treatment under free trade agreements that Vietnam is a part of,” stated the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) in a report.

Among Vietnam’s 45 key export staples, 38 witnessed an increase in revenue against the same period of last year, including those with a margin of over $100 million, including seafood, fertilizer, chemicals, leather products, garment, steel, computers, electronics, phones or machinery.

In addition, 38 out of 63 provinces/cities of Vietnam posted an export turnover of over $100 million, eight of which surpassed the $1 billion mark including  Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, Binh Duong, Thai Nguyen, Dong Nai, Haiphong, Bac Giang, and Hanoi.

According to the GDVC, the positive trade performance came from the high demands of destination markets, with 54 out of 80 major trading partners of Vietnam posting a higher year-on-year import growth.

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Import and Export Department Tran Thanh Hai noted the presence of multiple FTAs are proving to be a pulling factor for Vietnam to further attract investment capital for higher production capacity, and eventually export turnover.

Hai, however, warned local firms to be cautious about international transactions.

“The utilization of FTAs amid growing protectionism would put pressure on Vietnamese firms to understand technical barriers from destination markets for sustainable trade performance,” he said.

Last year, Vietnam trade turnover reached an all-time high of $668.55 billion amid the severe Covid-19 impacts, representing a staggering increase of over $100 billion from the previous record of $545 billion in 2020.

The Government targets exports to further expand by 6-8% in 2022 along with a positive trade balance, which helps ensure Vietnam’s GDP growth would rebound to 6-6.5% this year.