Vietnam – Singapore trade surges over 27% in early 2025

A shipment of 1,200 tonnes of modules was exported to Singapore by Doosan Enerbility Vietnam Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (Doosan Vina) from Dung Quat Economic Zone, Binh Thuan Commune, Binh Son District, Quang Ngai Province. (Photo: VNA)

Trade between Vietnam and Singapore continued its strong upward trend in early 2025, rising by 27.15% year-on-year during the first two months, according to Enterprise Singapore (ESG).

The two-month trade reached over 6.57 billion SGD (approximately 4.91 billion USD), solidifying Vietnam’s position as Singapore’s ninth largest trading partner.

Ranking 14th among exporters to Singapore, Vietnamese shipments to the city state exceeded 1.54 billion SGD in January–February, marking a 23.21% increase. Meanwhile, Vietnam was the seventh biggest importer of Singaporean goods, worth nearly 5.06 billion SGD during the period, up 28.38%.

Seventy percent of Hai Duong province’s carrot production is exported to the Singaporean market. (Photo: VNA)

In February alone, bilateral trade topped 3.18 billion SGD, a 40.41% increase from the same period in 2024.

Vietnamese exports to Singapore grew by 31.01% to 721.37 million SGD, while imports surged by 43.43% to nearly 2.46 billion SGD last month, statistics show.

Vietnam’s export structure remains diverse, with glass products rocketing 87.27% in February. Other high-growth categories included reactors, boilers, industrial machinery, and machinery spare parts (up 68.83%), along with machinery, mobile phones, electronic components,and spare parts (up 65.25%). Shipments of optical equipment, measuring tools, medical equipment, watches, together with musical instruments and components went up 89.64%. Meanwhile, alcoholic beverages also recorded a substantial gain of 84.32%.

In contrast, petrol, oil, and petroleum products saw a notable decline of 90.82%, and tobacco products down 23.79%.

In February, Vietnam's key imports from Singapore also posted significant increases, including mobile phones, electronic components, and spare parts (up 44.58%); petrol, oil, and petroleum products (up 24.73%); and industrial boilers, reactors, machine tools, and machinery spare parts (up 142.75%). Some commodities saw exceptional spikes such as lead products (up 34 times) and pharmaceuticals (up 2.3 times), whereas pearl, gem stones, and jewellery products dropped 52.48%, and watches and compoments fell 42.29%.

Looking ahead, Cao Xuan Thang, Vietnam’s Trade Counsellor in Singapore, emphasised continued support for Vietnamese enterprises seeking to expand in the market.

He highlighted that efforts will be made to provide market updates, facilitate trade connectivity, and promote Vietnamese brands through trade fairs and business networking events. Additionally, initiatives to attract Singaporean investment into Vietnam’s industrial, commercial, and service sectors will be further strengthened./.