Vietnam’s trade deficit is estimated to have widened to US$4.28 billion in the first two months of this year, up 285 per cent on year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed on February 27.
The country exported US$8.71 billion worth of commodities, up 29.2 per cent on-year, and imported US$12.99 billion, up 63.7 per cent, GSO noted.
Increasing commodity prices in the world market has pushed up Vietnam's export earnings, but also lifted the country's import spending, said GSO economists.
In February, Vietnam rakes in US$3.8 billion from exports, up 30.8 per cent on-year and imports US$5.8 billion, up 62.7 per cent. The jump in imports has driven the country's trade deficit this month to US$2 billion, up 250 per cent on-year.
During the two-month span, two key export items of crude oil and apparel report value of over US$1 billion each.
Crude oil remains the biggest cash earner with a total export volume of 2.3 million tons valued at US$1.68 billion, down 11.4 per cent and up 41.7 per cent on-year, respectively. It is followed by garments and textiles with nearly US$1.5 billion, up 41.7 per cent and footwear, US$770 million, up 25.2 per cent.
The country ships only 331,000 tons of rice in January-February, totaling US$130 million, on-year increases of 26.5 per cent and 54 per cent.
Regarding importation during the first two months, the nation continues spending the most on the import of machinery and equipment (US$2.2 billion, up 32.6 per cent on-year), fuels (US$1.6 billion, up 71 per cent), steel and iron (US$1.5 billion, up 2.6 times), plastics (US$485 million, up 50 per cent) and chemicals (US$296 million, up 50 per cent).
Imports of complete-built automobile have soared sharply in January-February with 9,700 units, totaling US$187 million, up 5.5 times and 3.3 times, respectively.
This year, the country sets a target to obtain export value of US$58 billion-US$59 billion, up 20 per cent-22 per cent on year. (VNS, Investment)
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