22 August 2024

After 7 months of 2024, Vietnam maintained its position as Singapore's 12th largest trading partner, with two-way trade turnover reaching more than 18.32 billion Singapore dollars (SGD), up to 9.02% over the same period last year...

Bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Singapore continues to maintain very good growth.

Citing statistics from the Singapore Enterprise Management Authority, the Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore said that after many months of decline or only low growth, Singapore's trade with the world in July 2024 grew strongly with all turnover indicators increasing by over 10%. Contributing to that result, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Singapore also continued to maintain a very good growth trend.

Specifically, in July 2024, the import-export turnover between Vietnam and Singapore reached more than 3.14 billion SGD, an increase of 20.91% over the same period in 2023; in which, exports from Vietnam to Singapore continued to achieve high growth (36.25%) with a value of 763.9 million SGD, import turnover also grew at a high rate (16.7%), reaching more than 2.38 billion SGD.

In the first 7 months of 2024, the two-way import-export turnover between Vietnam and Singapore reached more than 18.32 billion SGD, an increase of 9.02% over the same period in 2023, of which exports reached more than 4.7 billion SGD, a sharp increase of 27.03%, and imports reached more than 13.61 billion SGD, an increase of 3.93%.

Regarding the export commodity groups from Vietnam to Singapore, in July 2024, all 3 main export commodity groups of Vietnam to Singapore continued to increase sharply, specifically: machinery, equipment, mobile phones, components and spare parts of all kinds (up 22.86%); reactors, boilers, machine tools and equipment and spare parts of the above types of machines (up 68.21%); glass and glass products (up 94.61%).

Vietnam's exports of glass and glass products to Singapore in July 2024 increased by 94.61% over the same period in 2023.

In addition, some other export groups also had very strong growth rates such as: iron and steel (increased more than 12 times); optical machines, measuring instruments, medical equipment, watches, musical instruments and accessories of all kinds (increased 3 times)... On the contrary, some groups had quite strong declines such as paper and paper products (down 35.86%); garments (down 23.65%)...

Regarding the groups of imported goods from Singapore to Vietnam, 16/21 groups of goods had positive import turnover growth, in which the main import groups increased compared to the same period: machinery, equipment, mobile phones, components and spare parts of all kinds (up 30.84%); reactors, boilers, machine tools and equipment and spare parts of the above machines (up 53.28%); petroleum and petroleum products (up 1.05%). Some other groups have very strong growth rates such as: cigarettes and tobacco substitutes (up 1.5 times); pearls, gemstones, and jewelry products (up nearly 2.27 times)...

Mr. Cao Xuan Thang, Trade Counselor, Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, said on August 13, 2024, the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has narrowed the forecast range for the country's GDP growth for the whole year of 2024 to 2% to 3%, instead of the old forecast of 1% to 3%.

This forecast threshold is based on Singapore's assessment that the global economic environment in the second half of 2024 is expected to remain challenging, such as growth in the United States is expected to slow down, due to increased borrowing costs affecting domestic demand; The Eurozone and UK economies are expected to remain near-stagnant, as tightening monetary policy weighs on consumer spending and investment. In China, economic growth is expected to weaken further due to the impact of a prolonged property market correction.

In terms of risk factors, Singapore assesses the key risks to the economic outlook, including: a fragile global economic recovery, global geopolitical volatility and volatility in financial markets. These risks could impact Singapore’s export demand and financial stability.

However, Singapore’s economic outlook remains supported by a number of factors, in particular strong demand for high-end electronics products (such as AI-related chips), which is expected to support the growth of the electronics manufacturing sector. In addition, the rising trend of global tourism will also support Singapore’s tourism industry. Therefore, the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry has forecasted a better growth scenario and narrowed the forecast range more accurately than at the beginning of the year.

To better support Vietnamese businesses in the coming time, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore will continue to update the situation, mechanisms and policies of the locality; support Vietnamese businesses in connecting trade, displaying goods, promoting Vietnamese business brands and product brands, increasing the presence of Vietnamese goods in the locality; support the export of goods to the Singapore market; support working groups from Singapore to Vietnam to find sources of goods, promote industrial, trade and service investment in Vietnam.

Source: VnEconomy