Vietnam’s wood and forest product exports yielded an estimated US$9.361 billion in the first seven months of 2024 - photo: Vietnam Timber & Forest Products Association (VIFORES)

Seven-month exports

According the General Department of Vietnam Customs’ statistics, Vietnam earned a foreign trade value of US$70.11 billion in July, up 9.4 percent or US$6 billion from the previous month, including US$36.23 billion worth of exports, up 7.7 percent or US$2.58 billion, and US$33.88 billion worth of imports, up 11.2 percent or US$3.42 billion. This took the country’s total foreign trade value to US$440.45 billion in the first seven months of 2024, an increase of 17.2 percent or US$64.66 billion year-on-year, including US$227.49 billion worth of exports, up 16 percent or US$31.34 billion, and US$212.96 billion worth of imports, up 18.5 percent or US$33.32 billion.

Vietnam exported US$2.35 billion and US$14.53 billion more than it imported in July and the first seven months of this year, respectively.

Notably, July saw a foreign trade value surpassing US$70 billion, while that in other months hovers around US$65 billion.

Many sectors recorded a positive export growth.

According to data from the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), textile and garment exports yielded an estimated US$23.64 billion in the first seven months of 2024, up 4.58 percent year-on-year. Sales to main markets, including the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, and the EU, increased.

Le Tien Truong, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (VINATEX), stated that by July 2024, with the fairly positive order situation, Vietnam was the only country among the four largest textile-exporting nations in the world to have increased market share in various countries.

Wood exports recorded a double-digit growth.

Wood and forest product exports totaled an estimated US$9.361 billion in the first seven months of 2024, reaching 61.5 percent of the 2024 target and up 20.5 percent year-on-year.

Efforts to reach the target

Exports have become one of the three key drivers of economic growth, thus receiving special attention from the Government, ministries, sectors, and associations.

The exploitation of free trade agreements (FTAs) has brought significant results, contributing to fast and sustainable export growth, gradually reducing dependence on a certain or a few markets. Vietnamese exporters have increasingly leveraged FTA-related tariff preferences.

Import and export activities, especially exports, have seen remarkable results. Exports have made an important contribution to the country’s economic development, improving the balance of payments and macroeconomic and exchange rate stability, inflation control, boosting production, creating jobs and income for millions of workers, and driving innovation in production and trading activities.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade set a target for Vietnam to reach a goods export value of US$377 billion in 2024, about six percent higher than that in 2023, with a trade surplus of around US$15 billion.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang stated that the Ministry will continue to closely monitor market developments and import-export policies of various countries to promptly inform associations and enterprises. The focus will be on boosting export promotion activities in key markets, especially maximizing the benefits from FTAs, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, among others.

The Ministry will accelerate negotiations of, sign, and ratify new FTAs and economic linkages, initially with Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to diversify markets, supply chains, and promote exports. It will also help enterprises conduct trade promotion activities in new and potential markets that individual enterprises have not yet had the conditions to directly penetrate.