05 August 2023

In July 2023, import and export of goods is estimated at 57.21 billion USD, up 2.5% from the previous month, showing that this activity continues to show positive signs.

Import and export have prosperous signals

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with positive and synchronous measures to remove difficulties to support domestic production, trade promotion, domestic market expansion and export are strongly implemented, import and export activities in July had positive signals when total export turnover,  Imports of goods were estimated at 57.21 billion USD, up 2.5% over the previous month.

However, in the first 7 months of 2023, due to the general difficulties of the world market from the beginning of the year, the total import and export turnover of goods is estimated at 374.23 billion USD, down 13.9% over the same period last year, of which exports will decrease by 10.6%; imports fell 17.1%.

The trade balance of goods in the first 7 months of 2023 is estimated to have a trade surplus of 15.23 billion USD, specifically as follows: Specifically, in terms of commodity exports, in July, commodity export activities continued to have positive signals when increasing by 0.8% over the previous month, estimated at 29.68 billion USD,  is the month with the second highest export turnover since November 2022 (only lower than the export turnover of March 2023, reaching 29.71 billion USD).

In which, the domestic economic sector reached 7.76 billion USD, down 1.8%; FDI sector (including crude oil) reached 21.92 billion USD, up 1.7%. Compared to the same period last year, the export turnover of goods in July decreased by 3.5%, of which the domestic economic sector decreased by 4.2%, the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) decreased by 3.2%.

Another happy signal is that the main driving force for the prosperity of goods export activities in July came from the group of processed industrial goods with turnover up 1.1% over the previous month, estimated at 25.12 billion USD, accounting for 84.65% of the total export turnover of the country. In particular, exports of some main industrial goods tend to increase such as: Computers, electronic products and components; Textile; shoes of all kinds; wood and wood products...

For example, in July 2023, exports of wood and wood products will reach nearly 1.1 billion USD, bringing the 7-month turnover to 7.1 billion USD. Although wood export turnover has not been able to increase sharply, the turnover figure of July 2023 is nearly on par with the turnover of July 2022, showing that the export signal of wood and wood products has gradually recovered.

Mr. Trinh Duc Kien – Deputy Director of Ke Go Co., Ltd. shared, this is not the first time wood exporters have faced difficulties because they have also faced many difficulties in the past. Businesses understand that there will be certain cycles and after each difficult period will be a new cycle of development. How long the difficulty lasts cannot be predicted, but at some point it will have to pass and businesses must prepare and maintain "health" until that time. Inevitably then consumer demand will increase.

"We are preparing so that by the middle of Q2 2024, the market will boom again. We are doubling our factory in Bac Kan to increase production scale. This is a good time to evaluate your capacity, having to automate many stages. We will invest in machinery to improve production capacity, meet delivery time, reduce production costs" - Mr. Trinh Duc Kien said.

Besides, the export turnover of fuel and mineral groups in July 2023 is estimated at 369 million USD, up 8.7% over the previous month. Export turnover of agricultural and fishery products in July 2023 slowed down compared to the previous month (down slightly by 0.9%), but still increased by 13.5% over the same period last year.

In the first 7 months of 2023, goods export turnover is estimated at 194.73 billion USD, down 10.6% over the same period last year. In which, the domestic economic sector reached 51.5 billion USD, down 10.2%, accounting for 26.4% of total export turnover; FDI sector (including crude oil) reached 143.23 billion USD, down 10.8%, accounting for 73.6%.

In the first 7 months of 2023, there are 30 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 91.6% of total export turnover (there are 5 export items over 10 billion USD, accounting for 57.6%).

Export surplus more than 11 times higher than the same period

In the opposite direction, the decrease in world demand for goods also affected the import turnover of raw materials for the production of export orders of our country. However, thanks to positive signals in industrial production and exports in July, the import turnover of goods in July 2023 is estimated at 27.53 billion USD, up 4.4% over the previous month.

However, due to the decline from the beginning of the year, in the first 7 months of 2023, the import turnover of goods is estimated at 179.5 billion USD, down 17.1% over the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector reached 64.1 billion USD, down 16.1%; FDI sector reached 115.4 billion USD, down 17.7%. In the first 7 months of 2023, there are 35 imported items worth over 1 billion USD, accounting for 88.8% of total import turnover (there are 2 imported items over 10 billion USD, accounting for 37.9%).

Due to a sharp decrease in imports compared to exports, Vietnam's trade balance in July continued to have a trade surplus of about 2.15 billion USD, bringing the total trade surplus in the first 7 months of 2023 to 15.23 billion USD, more than 11 times higher than the trade surplus of the same period last year (trade surplus of 1.34 billion USD). In which, the domestic economic sector has a trade deficit of 12.58 billion USD; the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) had a trade surplus of 27.81 billion USD.

Continue to promote solutions to increase exports of goods

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the cause of the decline in import and export in the past 7 months is due to major economies that are Vietnam's export partners such as the United States and the EU reducing spending on procurement of conventional and luxury products, causing the order volume to decrease.

In addition, export commodity prices tend to decrease in the first 7 months of 2023, in which prices of many agricultural products such as cashew kernels, tea, pepper, rubber ... all decreased over the same period last year (such as: pepper decreased by 28.4%; rubber decreased by 20.6%). In particular, export prices of some processed industrial goods fell sharply at double-digit levels such as: crude oil decreased by 25.2%; gasoline of all kinds decreased by 16.9%; Fertilizers of all kinds decreased by 36.2%; Plastic materials decreased by 25.2%; Fiber, textile fibers of all kinds decreased by 23%; Iron and steel of all kinds decreased by 24.8% ...

In addition, China's reopening also creates a lot of competitive pressure for Vietnam's exports of the same type. Meanwhile, our businesses are still facing many difficulties due to the decrease in foreign orders, the domestic market purchasing power is not large, input costs are still high, it is not easy to access credit...

Therefore, in the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is making efforts to promote negotiations and sign new agreements, commitments and trade links, including completing the implementation of the FTA with Israel, signing FTA Agreements, Trade Agreements with other potential partners (UAE,  MERCOSUR...) to diversify markets, products, supply chains.

In addition, supporting enterprises to take advantage of commitments in FTA agreements, especially CPTPP, EVFTA, UKVFTA agreements to boost exports, through propaganda on rules of origin and issuance of Certificates of Origin, opportunities and ways to take advantage of opportunities from agreements.

At the same time, coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with China to open more export markets for other Vietnamese vegetables and fruits such as green skin pomelo, fresh coconut, avocado, pineapple, milk breast, lemon, melon...

In particular, improve the efficiency and regulate the speed of customs clearance of import and export goods at the border gate area between Vietnam and China, especially for agricultural and fishery products of seasonal nature; fast transfer, strong transition to official exports.

Enhance early warning of trade remedy lawsuits; guide businesses on how to respond to lawsuits; promptly inform enterprises and associations about information, needs and new regulations of the market.

Source: congthuong.vn