Vietnam’s Trade Hits Record High in 2022,...

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, in 2022, Vietnam’s exports reached USD 371.3416 billion (up 10.5% year-on-year), while imports totaled USD 358.9192 billion (up 7.8%), resulting in a trade surplus of USD 12.4225 billion. Following the previous year, both exports and imports hit record highs in 2022. However, while the first half of the year (January–June) saw double-digit growth with exports up 17.3% and imports up 15.5% year-on-year, trade activity declined from September onward (see December 23, 2022 report), with the second half (July–December) showing slower growth: exports rose 4.3% and imports only 0.7%. The slowdown was likely influenced by global economic deceleration due to inflation.

Looking at exports by major countries and regions for the whole year, the United States ranked first at USD 109.3889 billion (up 13.6% YoY), followed by China at USD 57.726 billion (up 3.2%) and South Korea at USD 24.2935 billion (up 10.7%) (see attached Table 1). While economic and consumer activity in China and Hong Kong was sluggish due to zero-COVID policies, other top markets saw double-digit growth, especially in Europe and the U.S. Although many countries experienced significant slowdown in the second half, exports to Japan increased, particularly for textiles, thanks to the relaxation of COVID-19 measures, recovering production in Vietnam, and renewed demand in Japan.

For imports, China was first at USD 117.86663 billion (up 6.6% YoY), followed by South Korea at USD 62.08683 billion (up 10.3%) and Japan at USD 23.73782 billion (up 2.5%) (see attached Table 2). After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global resource prices rose, leading to notable import growth from resource-rich countries such as Australia (up 27.3%) and Indonesia (up 26.8%) for coal and minerals.

By major export items to the world, the top three were telephones and components, computers and electronic products/components, and machinery and equipment/components (see attached Table 3). Consumer goods such as textiles (up 14.7% YoY), footwear (34.6% up), and seafood (23.0% up) performed well due to post-pandemic demand recovery. In contrast, exports of telephones and components grew only 0.8%. Samsung Electronics, which has its largest global smartphone production site in Vietnam, revised its shipment targets downward and reduced production in the second half of the year. Moreover, with declining construction demand in Europe, the export value of steel fell sharply by 32.2%.

For imports by major items, the top three were computers and electronic products/components, machinery and equipment/components, and telephones and components (see attached Table 4). Rising resource prices led to a substantial increase in petroleum product imports. In the second half of the year, imports of major production goods were largely down compared to the same period in 2021, reflecting the slowdown in manufacturing activity at the end of 2022 (see January 17, 2023 report).

(Reported by Takuto Hebami — JETRO, Vietnam)