Vietnam’s Import-Export Turnover Tops US$49.3 Billion in February

March 16, 2023 Posted by Vietnam Briefing Written by Dezan Shira and Associates Reading Time: 13 minutes

Vietnam’s import and export data for February has been released by Vietnam Customs. Here’s how Vietnam is tracking in terms of trade in 2023 so far.

Vietnam’s two-way trade in February was up almost US$3 billion over January despite February being a slightly shorter month.

All-in-all Vietnam clocked-up over US$46 billion in two-way trade for the month with foreign direct invested enterprises accounting for a little over two-thirds.

So, in February, what did Vietnam export and to where, and what did it import and from where?

Vietnam’s total imports and exports

Description	February (US$)	January (US$)	Year to date	Change (US$)	Change (%)
Imports	23,253,166,988	22,954,892,887	46,208,059,875	298,274,101	1.30
Exports	26,051,802,663	23,610,989,174	49,662,791,837	2,440,813,489	10.34
Total	49,304,969,651	46,565,882,061	95,870,851,712	2,739,087,590	5.88

Imports and exports of foreign direct invested enterprises

Description	February (US$)	January (US$)	Year to date	Change (US$)	Change (%)
Imports	15,327,554,489	15,529,779,203	30,857,333,692	-202,224,714	-1.30
Exports	19,394,131,790	17,970,237,911	37,364,369,701	1,423,893,879	7.92
Total	34,721,686,279	33,500,017,114	68,221,703,393	1,221,669,165	3.65

What were Vietnam’s main imports?

In February, Vietnam’s top three imports were: computers, electronic products, spare parts and components; machinery, equipment, tools, and instruments; and other products. These three imports set Vietnam back a collective US$10.2 billion. This was slightly down on January’s figure of US$10.5 billion for the same three export categories.

Vietnam imports February 2023, by value

Description	February	January	Change (US$)	Change (%)	Year To Date
Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof	5,947,192,606	6,562,619,439	-615,426,833	-9.38	12,509,812,045
Machine, equipment, tools and instruments	2,876,842,398	2,739,303,788	137,538,610	5.02	5,616,146,186
Other products	1,413,256,619	1,224,010,304	189,246,315	15.46	2,637,266,923
Plastics	783,468,075	588,061,603	195,406,472	33.23	1,371,529,678
Fabrics	776,111,773	936,043,314	-159,931,541	-17.09	1,712,155,087
Petroleum products	732,398,962	911,434,527	-179,035,565	-19.64	1,643,833,489
Iron and steel	673,073,091	525,840,231	147,232,860	28.00	1,198,913,322
Other base metals	603,115,542	556,275,522	46,840,020	8.42	1,159,391,064
Chemicals	581,013,024	478,290,706	102,722,318	21.48	1,059,303,730
Chemical products	568,227,444	501,261,524	66,965,920	13.36	1,069,488,968
Crude oil	560,489,080	677,319,598	-116,830,518	-17.25	1,237,808,678
Coal	536,186,364	272,157,145	264,029,219	97.01	808,343,509
Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof	525,382,889	793,855,750	-268,472,861	-33.82	1,319,238,639
Plastic products	506,481,719	515,879,959	-9,398,240	-1.82	1,022,361,678
Textile, leather and foot-wear materials and auxiliaries	421,398,448	377,390,876	44,007,572	11.66	798,789,324
Animal fodders and animal fodder materials	367,934,702	377,266,496	-9,331,794	-2.47	745,201,198
Iron and steel products	337,373,045	384,320,364	-46,947,319	-12.22	721,693,409
Parts and accessories of motor vehicles	326,067,034	305,121,636	20,945,398	6.86	631,188,670
Pharmaceutical products	270,479,162	242,180,046	28,299,116	11.69	512,659,208
Motor vehicles	259,831,283	314,502,938	-54,671,655	-17.38	574,334,221
Cashew nut	233,982,095	129,758,684	104,223,411	80.32	363,740,779
Fishery products	231,197,228	188,521,794	42,675,434	22.64	419,719,022
Maize (corn)	215,568,362	269,354,273	-53,785,911	-19.97	484,922,635
Ferrous waste and scrap	185,557,307	82,275,589	103,281,718	125.53	267,832,896
Cotton	182,549,512	175,146,393	7,403,119	4.23	357,695,905
Electric consumer products and parts thereof	169,698,600	96,209,410	73,489,190	76.38	265,908,010
Insulated wires and cables	169,696,570	161,380,234	8,316,336	5.15	331,076,804
Soya beans	167,166,777	46,154,956	121,011,821	262.19	213,321,733
Rubber	160,224,407	167,303,210	-7,078,803	-4.23	327,527,617
Yarn	159,178,273	135,990,655	23,187,618	17.05	295,168,928
Paper	158,216,256	118,248,459	39,967,797	33.80	276,464,715
Wood and wooden products	150,419,583	120,488,786	29,930,797	24.84	270,908,369
Still image, video cameras and parts thereof	150,343,785	201,741,200	-51,397,415	-25.48	352,084,985
Other base metal products	148,429,808	155,603,717	-7,173,909	-4.61	304,033,525
Wheats	142,797,043	86,552,811	56,244,232	64.98	229,349,854
Ores and other minerals product	131,529,395	188,759,585	-57,230,190	-30.32	320,288,980
Fruits and vegetables	124,150,473	149,105,266	-24,954,793	-16.74	273,255,739
Glass and glassware	115,804,839	117,179,005	-1,374,166	-1.17	232,983,844
Precious stones, precious metal and articles thereof	114,824,210	46,818,173	68,006,037	145.26	161,642,383
Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG)	106,043,316	177,598,806	-71,555,490	-40.29	283,642,122
Milk and milk products	105,586,654	88,961,629	16,625,025	18.69	194,548,283
Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations	99,168,410	66,874,869	32,293,541	48.29	166,043,279
Other edible food preparations	98,752,679	82,566,577	16,186,102	19.60	181,319,256
Other petroleum products	92,771,925	109,254,447	-16,482,522	-15.09	202,026,372
Animal, vegetable fats and oils	91,626,024	68,104,854	23,521,170	34.54	159,730,878
Other means of transportation, parts and accessories thereof	87,234,748	115,114,551	-27,879,803	-24.22	202,349,299
Fertilizers	67,518,055	57,057,382	10,460,673	18.33	124,575,437
Insecticides, rodenticides and materials	65,663,494	42,865,169	22,798,325	53.19	108,528,663
Rubber products	63,209,081	63,245,311	-36,230	-0.06	126,454,392
Paper products	62,395,607	51,555,560	10,840,047	21.03	113,951,167
Motorcycles and parts, accessories thereof	57,365,591	52,373,909	4,991,682	9.53	109,739,500
Pastrycooks, sweets and cereal products	39,913,359	27,434,220	12,479,139	45.49	67,347,579
Pharmaceutical materials	34,408,685	30,160,494	4,248,191	14.09	64,569,179
Tobacco materials	3,851,577	1,997,143	1,854,434	92.85	5,848,720
TOTAL VALUE	23,253,166,988	22,954,892,887	298,274,101	1.30	46,208,059,875
Imports of FDI Companies	15,327,554,489	15,529,779,203	-202,224,714	-1.30	30,857,333,692

Source: Vietnam Customs Import Data

What were Vietnam’s main exports?

Similar to January, in February Vietnam’s top three exports were: telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; and machine, equipment, tools and instruments. These accounted for US$11.5 billion worth of exports for Vietnam.

Vietnam’s exports February 2023, by value

Description	February (US$)	January (US$)	Change (US$)	Change (%)	Year to date
Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof	4,196,030,646	5,020,698,232	-824,667,586	-16.43	9,216,728,878
Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof	3,937,607,059	3,172,033,164	765,573,895	24.14	7,109,640,223
Machine, equipment, tools and instruments	3,387,424,730	2,900,597,029	486,827,701	16.78	6,288,021,759
Textiles and garments	2,294,142,128	2,250,526,485	43,615,643	1.94	4,544,668,613
Footwear	1,393,841,477	1,367,731,663	26,109,814	1.91	2,761,573,140
Other products	1,288,247,888	988,710,088	299,537,800	30.30	2,276,957,976
Other means of transportation, parts and accessories thereof	1,068,242,421	852,779,613	215,462,808	25.27	1,921,022,034
Wood and wooden products	880,203,423	806,029,437	74,173,986	9.20	1,686,232,860
Fishery products	610,076,304	457,211,746	152,864,558	33.43	1,067,288,050
Iron and steel	602,256,964	456,985,917	145,271,047	31.79	1,059,242,881
Coffee	434,909,631	310,439,892	124,469,739	40.09	745,349,523
Plastic products	368,385,447	312,856,372	55,529,075	17.75	681,241,819
Still image, video cameras and sparts thereof	359,915,328	474,016,558	-114,101,230	-24.07	833,931,886
Other base metals and other base metal products	347,048,982	275,641,785	71,407,197	25.91	622,690,767
Yarn	338,996,908	225,524,928	113,471,980	50.31	564,521,836
Fruits and vegetables	323,791,987	242,030,374	81,761,613	33.78	565,822,361
Iron and steel products	323,372,894	313,777,304	9,595,590	3.06	637,150,198
Toys and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof	289,659,113	270,734,101	18,925,012	6.99	560,393,214
Rice	286,171,403	186,599,109	99,572,294	53.36	472,770,512
Insulated wires and cables	248,446,308	250,967,269	-2,520,961	-1.00	499,413,577
Handbags, purses, suit-cases, headgear and umbrellas	247,714,677	260,500,119	-12,785,442	-4.91	508,214,796
Chemical products	205,255,678	148,305,298	56,950,380	38.40	353,560,976
Cashew nut	197,702,724	155,806,407	41,896,317	26.89	353,509,131
Chemicals	190,072,027	175,135,562	14,936,465	8.53	365,207,589
Furnitures of other materials, other than of wood	189,483,199	148,717,648	40,765,551	27.41	338,200,847
Rubber	185,003,356	182,582,277	2,421,079	1.33	367,585,633
Plastics	184,886,857	140,077,691	44,809,166	31.99	324,964,548
Manioc and manioc products	176,120,259	92,701,559	83,418,700	89.99	268,821,818
Crude oil	171,820,943	149,872,217	21,948,726	14.64	321,693,160
Paper and paper products	166,309,077	128,878,598	37,430,479	29.04	295,187,675
Textile, leather and foot-wear materials and auxiliaries	164,047,901	121,150,424	42,897,477	35.41	285,198,325
Petroleum products	144,832,690	136,973,949	7,858,741	5.74	281,806,639
Clinker and cement	130,041,624	81,561,972	48,479,652	59.44	211,603,596
Rubber products	85,768,505	58,231,207	27,537,298	47.29	143,999,712
Pepper	84,188,099	43,206,012	40,982,087	94.85	127,394,111
Precious stones, precious metal and articles thereof	81,847,232	50,720,973	31,126,259	61.37	132,568,205
Animal fodders and animal fodder materials	79,348,502	50,055,397	29,293,105	58.52	129,403,899
Pastrycooks, sweets and cereals products	73,553,121	55,548,931	18,004,190	32.41	129,102,052
Glass and glassware	69,055,962	58,230,500	10,825,462	18.59	127,286,462
Fertilizers	65,041,050	63,910,737	1,130,313	1.77	128,951,787
Tyre cord fabrics and other fabrics for technical uses	57,178,625	57,759,389	-580,764	-1.01	114,938,014
Bamboo and rattan products	56,657,848	45,756,979	10,900,869	23.82	102,414,827
Ceramic products	46,190,912	41,220,062	4,970,850	12.06	87,410,974
Tea	11,257,054	11,368,196	-111,142	-0.98	22,625,250
Ores and other minerals product	9,382,408	16,494,627	-7,112,219	-43.12	25,877,035
Coal	271,292	331,377	-60,085	-18.13	602,669
Total	26,051,802,663	23,610,989,174	2,440,813,489	10.34	49,662,791,837
Exports of FDI Companies	19,394,131,790	17,970,237,911	1,423,893,879	7.92	37,364,369,701

Source: Vietnam Customs Export Data

Where did Vietnam’s imports come from?

Vietnam imported goods from all over the world in February. Its three biggest sources of imports were China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan covering US$12.4 billion worth of imports.

Vietnam’s imports by source country, value

	February (US$)	January (US$)	Change (US$)	Change (%)	Year to date
China	6,704,144,662	7,222,641,146	-518,496,484	-7.18	13,926,785,808
Republic of Korea	3,821,780,084	3,902,214,670	-80,434,586	-2.06	7,723,994,754
Japan	1,867,349,594	1,675,746,881	191,602,713	11.43	3,543,096,475
Taiwan	1,476,513,131	1,469,616,642	6,896,489	0.47	2,946,129,773
Thailand	1,019,028,207	766,089,522	252,938,685	33.02	1,785,117,729
United States of America	946,660,507	925,043,226	21,617,281	2.34	1,871,703,733
Australia	676,185,067	506,678,096	169,506,971	33.45	1,182,863,163
Indonesia	635,647,127	571,469,367	64,177,760	11.23	1,207,116,494
India	567,586,382	419,557,801	148,028,581	35.28	987,144,183
Malaysia	563,718,472	676,110,519	-112,392,047	-16.62	1,239,828,991
Kuwait	513,666,124	499,999,311	13,666,813	2.73	1,013,665,435
Cambodia	443,228,982	295,347,702	147,881,280	50.07	738,576,684
Singapore	413,789,720	398,814,780	14,974,940	3.75	812,604,500
Brazil	357,121,732	363,556,951	-6,435,219	-1.77	720,678,683
Germany	235,842,578	217,879,683	17,962,895	8.24	453,722,261
HongKong	205,690,981	201,969,222	3,721,759	1.84	407,660,203
Philippines	175,547,149	207,928,978	-32,381,829	-15.57	383,476,127
Argentina	164,666,577	241,457,745	-76,791,168	-31.80	406,124,322
Ireland	149,487,447	208,652,865	-59,165,418	-28.36	358,140,312
Italy	140,236,841	124,422,656	15,814,185	12.71	264,659,497
France	131,133,720	111,468,222	19,665,498	17.64	242,601,942
Saudi Arabia	115,284,325	149,257,159	-33,972,834	-22.76	264,541,484
Russian Federation	104,606,731	92,514,804	12,091,927	13.07	197,121,535
Israel	102,973,284	155,985,234	-53,011,950	-33.99	258,958,518
Laos	99,795,415	71,264,442	28,530,973	40.04	171,059,857
New Zealand	68,397,932	58,667,248	9,730,684	16.59	127,065,180
United Kingdom	66,281,347	44,096,181	22,185,166	50.31	110,377,528
United Arab Emirates	57,383,209	86,272,344	-28,889,135	-33.49	143,655,553
Belgium	56,407,342	34,274,347	22,132,995	64.58	90,681,689
Mexico	50,806,387	60,124,963	-9,318,576	-15.50	110,931,350
Hungary	50,775,625	56,331,361	-5,555,736	-9.86	107,106,986
Spain	50,000,525	45,994,760	4,005,765	8.71	95,995,285
Canada	47,946,482	36,061,184	11,885,298	32.96	84,007,666
Tanzania	47,168,923	70,943,841	-23,774,918	-33.51	118,112,764
Netherlands	45,878,004	47,609,489	-1,731,485	-3.64	93,487,493
Chile	39,220,795	42,296,139	-3,075,344	-7.27	81,516,934
Norway	34,215,275	27,117,642	7,097,633	26.17	61,332,917
Poland	27,724,308	31,145,671	-3,421,363	-10.99	58,869,979
Austria	25,419,208	26,860,073	-1,440,865	-5.36	52,279,281
Turkey	24,079,684	27,260,333	-3,180,649	-11.67	51,340,017
Sweden	23,209,359	21,287,010	1,922,349	9.03	44,496,369
Cameroon	19,599,126	14,043,949	5,555,177	39.56	33,643,075
Myanmar	18,652,693	24,182,795	-5,530,102	-22.87	42,835,488
Brunei Darussalam	16,735,681	10,646,204	6,089,477	57.20	27,381,885
Ivory Coast	14,628,394	28,001,013	-13,372,619	-47.76	42,629,407
Pakistan	12,919,495	16,016,403	-3,096,908	-19.34	28,935,898
Denmark	12,910,668	20,753,167	-7,842,499	-37.79	33,663,835
Congo	12,446,816	63,805,787	-51,358,971	-80.49	76,252,603
South Africa	12,196,670	5,953,924	6,242,746	104.85	18,150,594
Czech Republic	11,266,571	10,110,090	1,156,481	11.44	21,376,661
Bangladesh	9,736,106	6,720,229	3,015,877	44.88	16,456,335
Qatar	9,714,070	8,821,190	892,880	10.12	18,535,260
Peru	8,682,789	4,142,489	4,540,300	109.60	12,825,278
Slovenia	8,617,949	6,271,996	2,345,953	37.40	14,889,945
Finland	8,045,983	8,584,397	-538,414	-6.27	16,630,380
Nigeria	7,983,895	10,878,002	-2,894,107	-26.61	18,861,897
Slovakia	7,874,983	4,360,469	3,514,514	80.60	12,235,452
Portugal	6,886,508	4,246,764	2,639,744	62.16	11,133,272
Greece	6,492,746	12,788,532	-6,295,786	-49.23	19,281,278
Romania	6,287,239	5,635,705	651,534	11.56	11,922,944
Cyprus	4,240,714	4,540,699	-299,985	-6.61	8,781,413
Bulgaria	3,556,060	1,944,117	1,611,943	82.91	5,500,177
Lithuania	3,108,960	1,394,366	1,714,594	122.97	4,503,326
Luxembourg	3,009,502	2,979,927	29,575	0.99	5,989,429
Croatia	2,662,935	2,747,946	-85,011	-3.09	5,410,881
Ukraine	2,461,566	2,164,409	297,157	13.73	4,625,975
Estonia	2,146,864	1,108,889	1,037,975	93.60	3,255,753
Ghana	2,109,701	3,150,592	-1,040,891	-33.04	5,260,293
Latvia	1,798,064	2,442,757	-644,693	-26.39	4,240,821
Malta	1,523,895	3,070,243	-1,546,348	-50.37	4,594,138
Belarus	1,416,053	758,891	657,162	86.60	2,174,944
Tunisia	880,099	956,379	-76,280	-7.98	1,836,478
Kazakhstan	0	468,398	-468,398	-100.00	468,398
Total	22,587,192,039	22,485,720,928	101,471,111	0.45	45,072,912,967

Source: Vietnam Customs Imports By Country

Where did Vietnam’s exports go?

The bulk of Vietnam’s exports in February went to the United States. This is almost double its next biggest export market, China. It is also more than triple third place, the Republic of Korea.

Vietnam’s exports by recipient country, value

	February	January	Change (US$)	Change (%)	Year to date
United States of America	6,877,794,764	6,149,468,977	728,325,787	11.84	13,027,263,741
China	3,550,550,978	3,844,446,623	-293,895,645	-7.64	7,394,997,601
Republic of Korea	2,098,119,874	1,696,231,035	401,888,839	23.69	3,794,350,909
Japan	1,815,528,393	1,539,109,658	276,418,735	17.96	3,354,638,051
Netherlands	796,096,229	684,025,121	112,071,108	16.38	1,480,121,350
India	731,560,917	601,531,385	130,029,532	21.62	1,333,092,302
Thailand	654,249,368	531,611,749	122,637,619	23.07	1,185,861,117
Germany	622,482,428	569,286,268	53,196,160	9.34	1,191,768,696
HongKong	593,931,142	524,412,215	69,518,927	13.26	1,118,343,357
United Kingdom	442,863,993	496,337,157	-53,473,164	-10.77	939,201,150
Malaysia	441,701,703	267,289,684	174,412,019	65.25	708,991,387
Cambodia	430,404,352	367,128,295	63,276,057	17.24	797,532,647
Philippines	408,943,383	290,061,169	118,882,214	40.99	699,004,552
Canada	405,121,268	322,429,301	82,691,967	25.65	727,550,569
Indonesia	403,828,892	355,079,016	48,749,876	13.73	758,907,908
Taiwan	393,440,865	234,676,985	158,763,880	67.65	628,117,850
Singapore	387,174,076	290,493,575	96,680,501	33.28	677,667,651
Australia	358,804,102	410,630,707	-51,826,605	-12.62	769,434,809
Italy	340,041,752	354,863,351	-14,821,599	-4.18	694,905,103
Mexico	299,793,800	275,457,852	24,335,948	8.83	575,251,652
United Arab Emirates	294,801,791	310,056,500	-15,254,709	-4.92	604,858,291
France	257,835,963	280,739,045	-22,903,082	-8.16	538,575,008
Spain	244,127,676	249,150,321	-5,022,645	-2.02	493,277,997
Austria	240,431,483	265,442,790	-25,011,307	-9.42	505,874,273
Belgium	229,379,263	212,064,694	17,314,569	8.16	441,443,957
Brazil	206,376,928	163,340,304	43,036,624	26.35	369,717,232
Poland	169,290,644	128,862,604	40,428,040	31.37	298,153,248
Turkey	149,338,170	150,485,867	-1,147,697	-0.76	299,824,037
Russian Federation	106,068,921	99,359,762	6,709,159	6.75	205,428,683
Argentina	96,864,686	111,570,397	-14,705,711	-13.18	208,435,083
Bangladesh	91,776,102	65,182,927	26,593,175	40.80	156,959,029
Chile	81,919,990	117,039,950	-35,119,960	-30.01	198,959,940
Myanmar	78,956,224	24,739,650	54,216,574	219.15	103,695,874
Czech	78,782,402	40,028,456	38,753,946	96.82	118,810,858
South Africa	78,551,217	43,429,332	35,121,885	80.87	121,980,549
Sweden	72,339,825	108,664,931	-36,325,106	-33.43	181,004,756
Saudi Arabia	65,528,805	64,659,530	869,275	1.34	130,188,335
Slovakia	65,157,698	54,214,930	10,942,768	20.18	119,372,628
Ireland	59,524,437	73,711,354	-14,186,917	-19.25	133,235,791
Israel	57,647,754	67,855,851	-10,208,097	-15.04	125,503,605
New Zealand	51,709,375	58,906,413	-7,197,038	-12.22	110,615,788
Egypt	45,739,069	32,320,336	13,418,733	41.52	78,059,405
Laos	45,366,220	27,798,924	17,567,296	63.19	73,165,144
Pakistan	41,693,707	24,676,571	17,017,136	68.96	66,370,278
Colombia	41,093,409	56,331,316	-15,237,907	-27.05	97,424,725
Portugal	38,675,160	41,443,330	-2,768,170	-6.68	80,118,490
Greece	36,367,544	32,219,363	4,148,181	12.87	68,586,907
Algeria	31,352,523	8,486,240	22,866,283	269.45	39,838,763
Peru	29,968,439	33,731,937	-3,763,498	-11.16	63,700,376
Hungary	29,802,858	26,571,043	3,231,815	12.16	56,373,901
Slovenia	28,032,707	26,208,167	1,824,540	6.96	54,240,874
Denmark	26,352,566	26,152,806	199,760	0.76	52,505,372
Norway	25,686,342	9,075,038	16,611,304	183.04	34,761,380
Latvia	22,368,995	31,602,988	-9,233,993	-29.22	53,971,983
Panama	21,212,134	57,722,009	-36,509,875	-63.25	78,934,143
Finland	20,055,517	32,838,703	-12,783,186	-38.93	52,894,220
Romania	18,822,772	14,434,078	4,388,694	30.41	33,256,850
Togo	18,168,844	13,861,516	4,307,328	31.07	32,030,360
Iraq	15,816,166	18,275,258	-2,459,092	-13.46	34,091,424
Luxembourg	13,536,753	10,728,246	2,808,507	26.18	24,264,999
Switzerland	12,835,639	12,977,935	-142,296	-1.10	25,813,574
Sri Lanka	11,949,678	13,544,005	-1,594,327	-11.77	25,493,683
Bulgaria	9,493,764	5,716,039	3,777,725	66.09	15,209,803
Tanzania	9,320,021	3,456,136	5,863,885	169.67	12,776,157
Kenya	8,545,068	4,955,958	3,589,110	72.42	13,501,026
Nigeria	7,526,551	7,404,023	122,528	1.65	14,930,574
Croatia	7,028,744	12,742,917	-5,714,173	-44.84	19,771,661
Lithuania	6,890,119	12,391,595	-5,501,476	-44.40	19,281,714
Kuwait	6,814,564	2,854,911	3,959,653	138.70	9,669,475
Ghana	5,774,047	3,761,986	2,012,061	53.48	9,536,033
Mozambique	5,373,390	6,425,393	-1,052,003	-16.37	11,798,783
Cyprus	4,865,164	2,845,852	2,019,312	70.96	7,711,016
Brunei Darussalam	4,327,319	1,876,573	2,450,746	130.60	6,203,892
Ivory Coast	3,607,207	17,324,751	-13,717,544	-79.18	20,931,958
Senegal	3,157,834	2,095,501	1,062,333	50.70	5,253,335
Estonia	2,371,671	1,880,899	490,772	26.09	4,252,570
Ukraine	1,674,174	1,768,731	-94,557	-5.35	3,442,905
Angola	1,416,028	992,639	423,389	42.65	2,408,667
Malta	1,117,025	896,949	220,076	24.54	2,013,974
East Timor	900,616	534,370	366,246	68.54	1,434,986
Total	25,493,941,981	23,135,000,763	2,358,941,218	10.20	48,628,942,744

Source: Vietnam Customs Exports By Country

About Vietnam’s import and export data

Data in these tables was accessed via Vietnam’s customs portal March 16, 2023.

January 2023

Vietnam’s total import-export turnover in January was US$46.5 billion down from US$56.3 billion in December. This may have been partly due to the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. There may also be some carry-over from December in which manufacturing orders were down due to greater global challenges (See also: Vietnamese Garment Makers Hit Snag).

So, in January, what did Vietnam export and to where, and what did it import and from where?

Vietnam’s total imports and exports

Description	January (US$)	December (US$)	Change (US$)	Change (%)
Imports	22,954,892,887	27,292,323,798	-4,337,430,911	-15.89
Exports	23,610,989,174	29,029,008,580	-5,418,019,406	-18.66
Total	46,565,882,061	56,321,332,378	-9,755,450,317	-17.32

Imports and exports of foreign direct invested companies

Description	January (US$)	December (US$)	Change (US$)	Change (%)
Imports	15,529,779,203	17,104,114,379	-1,574,335,176	-9.20
Exports	17,970,237,911	20,937,721,787	-2,967,483,876	-14.17
Total	33,500,017,114	38,041,836,166	-4,541,819,052	-11.94

What were Vietnam’s main imports?

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In January, Vietnam’s top three imports were: computers, electronic products, spare parts and components; machinery, equipment, tools, and instruments; and other products. These three imports set Vietnam back a collective US$10.5 billion. This was about a quarter of Vietnam’s exports by value.

Vietnam imports January 2023, by value

Description	January (US$)	December (US$)	Change (US$)	Change (%)
Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof	6,562,619,439	5,786,146,937	776,472,502	13.42
Machine, equipment, tools and instruments	2,739,303,788	3,537,739,224	-798,435,436	-22.57
Other products	1,224,010,304	1,801,697,218	-577,686,914	-32.06
Fabrics	936,043,314	1,030,259,151	-94,215,837	-9.14
Petroleum products	911,434,527	822,671,657	88,762,870	10.79
Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof	793,855,750	1,411,708,661	-617,852,911	-43.77
Crude oil	677,319,598	651,989,527	25,330,071	3.89
Plastics	588,061,603	717,491,361	-129,429,758	-18.04
Other base metals	556,275,522	668,210,462	-111,934,940	-16.75
Iron and steel	525,840,231	810,823,455	-284,983,224	-35.15
Plastic products	515,879,959	608,358,075	-92,478,116	-15.20
Chemical products	501,261,524	658,739,642	-157,478,118	-23.91
Chemicals	478,290,706	606,576,227	-128,285,521	-21.15
Iron and steel products	384,320,364	432,412,392	-48,092,028	-11.12
Textile, leather and foot-wear materials and auxiliaries	377,390,876	449,141,125	-71,750,249	-15.97
Animal fodders and animal fodder materials	377,266,496	584,700,216	-207,433,720	-35.48
Motor vehicles	314,502,938	431,552,408	-117,049,470	-27.12
Parts and accessories of motor vehicles	305,121,636	497,714,480	-192,592,844	-38.70
Coal	272,157,145	491,311,989	-219,154,844	-44.61
Maize (corn)	269,354,273	386,198,076	-116,843,803	-30.25
Pharmaceutical products	242,180,046	505,727,879	-263,547,833	-52.11
Still image, video cameras and parts thereof	201,741,200	226,538,276	-24,797,076	-10.95
Ores and other minerals product	188,759,585	99,690,217	89,069,368	89.35
Fishery products	188,521,794	225,322,224	-36,800,430	-16.33
Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG)	177,598,806	125,147,767	52,451,039	41.91
Cotton	175,146,393	259,246,855	-84,100,462	-32.44
Rubber	167,303,210	246,923,840	-79,620,630	-32.25
Insulated wires and cables	161,380,234	209,291,778	-47,911,544	-22.89
Other base metal products	155,603,717	158,240,008	-2,636,291	-1.67
Fruits and vegetables	149,105,266	199,108,551	-50,003,285	-25.11
Yarn	135,990,655	164,407,870	-28,417,215	-17.28
Cashew nut	129,758,684	100,753,494	29,005,190	28.79
Wood and wooden products	120,488,786	206,299,294	-85,810,508	-41.60
Paper	118,248,459	158,332,741	-40,084,282	-25.32
Glass and glassware	117,179,005	127,894,434	-10,715,429	-8.38
Other means of transportation, parts and accessories thereof	115,114,551	88,912,571	26,201,980	29.47
Other petroleum products	109,254,447	207,484,895	-98,230,448	-47.34
Electric consumer products and parts thereof	96,209,410	157,882,767	-61,673,357	-39.06
Milk and milk products	88,961,629	94,371,745	-5,410,116	-5.73
Wheats	86,552,811	82,544,882	4,007,929	4.86
Other edible food preparations	82,566,577	95,670,604	-13,104,027	-13.70
Ferrous waste and scrap	82,275,589	78,050,095	4,225,494	5.41
Animal, vegetable fats and oils	68,104,854	159,969,958	-91,865,104	-57.43
Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations	66,874,869	105,031,601	-38,156,732	-36.33
Rubber products	63,245,311	84,195,787	-20,950,476	-24.88
Fertilizers	57,057,382	155,138,347	-98,080,965	-63.22
Motorcycles and parts, accessories thereof	52,373,909	64,587,801	-12,213,892	-18.91
Paper products	51,555,560	69,013,296	-17,457,736	-25.30
Precious stones, precious metal and articles thereof	46,818,173	85,777,235	-38,959,062	-45.42
Soya beans	46,154,956	137,826,770	-91,671,814	-66.51
Insecticides, rodenticides and materials	42,865,169	57,991,678	-15,126,509	-26.08
Pharmaceutical materials	30,160,494	52,490,718	-22,330,224	-42.54
Pastrycooks, sweets and cereal products	27,434,220	64,181,347	-36,747,127	-57.26
Tobacco materials	1,997,143	52,834,190	-50,837,047	-96.22
TOTAL VALUE	22,954,892,887	27,292,323,798	-4,337,430,911	-15.89
Imports of FDI Companies	15,529,779,203	17,104,114,379	-1,574,335,176	-9.20

Source: General Department of Customs (Imports)

What were Vietnam’s main exports?

Vietnam’s top three exports were Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof; Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof; and Machine, equipment, tools and instruments. These accounted for US$11.1 billion worth of exports for Vietnam.

Vietnam’s exports January 2023, by value

Description	January (US$)	December (US$)	Change (US$)	Change (%)
Telephones, mobile phones and parts thereof	5,020,698,232	3,104,425,627	1,916,272,605	61.73
Computers, electrical products, spare-parts and components thereof	3,172,033,164	4,787,334,315	-1,615,301,151	-33.74
Machine, equipment, tools and instruments	2,900,597,029	3,726,829,075	-826,232,046	-22.17
Textiles and garments	2,250,526,485	2,900,961,055	-650,434,570	-22.42
Foot-wears	1,367,731,663	1,851,668,469	-483,936,806	-26.14
Other products	988,710,088	1,446,344,582	-457,634,494	-31.64
Other means of transportation, parts and accessories thereof	852,779,613	1,119,109,080	-266,329,467	-23.80
Wood and wooden products	806,029,437	1,309,407,281	-503,377,844	-38.44
Still image, video cameras and sparts thereof	474,016,558	503,266,251	-29,249,693	-5.81
Fishery products	457,211,746	754,511,193	-297,299,447	-39.40
Iron and steel	456,985,917	584,031,081	-127,045,164	-21.75
Iron and steel products	313,777,304	363,263,733	-49,486,429	-13.62
Plastic products	312,856,372	454,423,718	-141,567,346	-31.15
Coffee	310,439,892	425,164,539	-114,724,647	-26.98
Other base metals and other base metal products	275,641,785	380,277,508	-104,635,723	-27.52
Toys and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof	270,734,101	402,849,569	-132,115,468	-32.80
Handbags, purses, suit-cases, headgear and umbrellas	260,500,119	338,412,376	-77,912,257	-23.02
Insulated wires and cables	250,967,269	292,215,217	-41,247,948	-14.12
Fruits and vegetables	242,030,374	312,505,162	-70,474,788	-22.55
Yarn	225,524,928	325,353,916	-99,828,988	-30.68
Rice	186,599,109	220,260,396	-33,661,287	-15.28
Rubber	182,582,277	365,210,505	-182,628,228	-50.01
Chemicals	175,135,562	213,762,784	-38,627,222	-18.07
Cashew nut	155,806,407	269,097,789	-113,291,382	-42.10
Crude oil	149,872,217	237,811,374	-87,939,157	-36.98
Furnitures of other materials, other than of wood	148,717,648	261,544,713	-112,827,065	-43.14
Chemical products	148,305,298	220,046,161	-71,740,863	-32.60
Plastics	140,077,691	198,657,261	-58,579,570	-29.49
Petroleum products	136,973,949	242,371,147	-105,397,198	-43.49
Paper and paper products	128,878,598	164,512,783	-35,634,185	-21.66
Textile, leather and foot-wear materials and auxiliaries	121,150,424	172,361,502	-51,211,078	-29.71
Manioc and manioc products	92,701,559	152,771,361	-60,069,802	-39.32
Clinker and cement	81,561,972	124,437,430	-42,875,458	-34.46
Fertilizers	63,910,737	65,030,074	-1,119,337	-1.72
Rubber products	58,231,207	89,878,983	-31,647,776	-35.21
Glass and glassware	58,230,500	54,227,863	4,002,637	7.38
Tyre cord fabrics and other fabrics for technical uses	57,759,389	62,604,742	-4,845,353	-7.74
Pastrycooks, sweets and cereals products	55,548,931	86,100,688	-30,551,757	-35.48
Precious stones, precious metal and articles thereof	50,720,973	90,666,121	-39,945,148	-44.06
Animal fodders and animal fodder materials	50,055,397	91,048,928	-40,993,531	-45.02
Bamboo and rattan products	45,756,979	66,898,836	-21,141,857	-31.60
Pepper	43,206,012	73,540,082	-30,334,070	-41.25
Ceramic products	41,220,062	62,645,162	-21,425,100	-34.20
Ores and other minerals product	16,494,627	23,368,461	-6,873,834	-29.42
Tea	11,368,196	20,453,343	-9,085,147	-44.42
Coal	331,377	17,346,344	-17,014,967	-98.09
Total	23,610,989,174	29,029,008,580	-5,418,019,406	-18.66
Exports of FDI Companies	17,970,237,911	20,937,721,787	-2,967,483,876	-14.17

Source: General Department of Customs (Exports)

Where did Vietnam’s imports come from?

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Vietnam imported goods from all over the world in January. Asia was its biggest supplier with just over US$19 billion in goods imported. The lion’s share of those imports came from China followed by South Korea.

Market	Jan 2023 (US$b)	Compared to Jan 2022( %)	Proportion (%)
Asia	19.16	-24.50	83.50
ASEAN	3.2	-14.20	13.20
China	7.23	-34.70	31.50
Korea	3.91	-24.70	17.00
Japan	1.68	-3.90	7.30
Americas	1.70	-12.00	7.40
United States	0.92	-13.60	4.00
Europe	1.25	-28.50	5.50
EU (27)	1.02	-18.60	4.40
Oceania	0.57	-28.60	2.50
Africa	0.28	-22.70	1.20
Total	22.95	-24.00	100.00

Where did Vietnam’s exports go?

The bulk of Vietnam’s exports were distributed within Asia (48 percent), however, the Americas were not far behind receiving US$7.4 billion worth of Vietnamese goods. By country, China was the biggest recipient of Vietnamese goods in January accounting for 16.4 percent.

Market	Jan 2023 (US$b)	Compared to Jan 2022 (%)	Proportion (%)
Asia	11.48	-17.20	48.60
ASEAN	2.17	-21.90	9.20
China	3.87	-0.10	16.40
Korea	1.69	-16.20	7.20
Japan	1.54	-24.30	6.50
Americas	7.40	-36.60	31.30
United States	6.15	-38.90	26.1
Europe	4.06	-26.00	17.20
EU (27)	3.28	-25.30	13.90
Oceania	0.48	-4.50	2.00
Africa	0.18	-42.70	0.80
Total	23.61	-25.90	100.00

About Vietnam’s import and export data

Vietnam’s export and import data is released by the General Department of Customs monthly and provides data for the month before.

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Vietnam’s Import-Export Turnover Tops US$49.3 Billion in February

Vietnam’s total imports and exports

Imports and exports of foreign direct invested enterprises

What were Vietnam’s main imports?

Vietnam imports February 2023, by value

What were Vietnam’s main exports?

Vietnam’s exports February 2023, by value

Where did Vietnam’s imports come from?

Vietnam’s imports by source country, value

Where did Vietnam’s exports go?

Vietnam’s exports by recipient country, value

About Vietnam’s import and export data

January 2023

Vietnam’s total imports and exports

Imports and exports of foreign direct invested companies

What were Vietnam’s main imports?

Vietnam imports January 2023, by value

What were Vietnam’s main exports?

Vietnam’s exports January 2023, by value

Where did Vietnam’s imports come from?

Where did Vietnam’s exports go?

About Vietnam’s import and export data

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