Exports in 2019 continued to set up a "new milestone" with 263.45 billion USD, far exceeding the record level of 2018(244.72 billion USD). As a result, the trade surplus also set a new milestonewith 9.9 billion USD, far exceeding the figure of 7.2 billion USD in 2018. This result is even more significant when exports have contributed significantly tothe completion of successfully completed and exceeded 12/12 socio-economictargets in 2019 of the National Assembly. Remarkably, in the past year, therewere 32 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 92.9%of total export turnover (6 items with export turnover of over 10 billion USD,accounting for 63.4%)). In particular, phones and components with the largestexport value reached 51.8 billion USD, accounting for 19.7% of total exportturnover, up 5.3% over the previous year. Next, electronics, computers andcomponents reached 35.6 billion USD, up 20.4%; textiles and garments reached US$ 32.6 billion, up 6.9%; machinery, equipment and tools reached 18.3 billionUSD, up 11.9%; footwear reached 18.3 billion USD, up 12.7%; wood and woodenproducts reached 10.5 billion USD, up 18.2%.
For agricultural and aquatic products, due to theaverage export price of many items decreased compared to the previous year, theexport turnover of most agricultural and fishery products in 2019 decreased.Specifically, seafood gained US $ 8.6 billion, down 2.4%; fruits and vegetablesreached 3.8 billion USD, down 1.1%; cashew nuts reached US $ 3.3 billion, down2.6% (the amount increased by 21.5%); coffee reached 2.8 billion USD, down21.2% (quantity down 13.9%); rice reached 2.8 billion USD, down 9.9% (amountincreased by 2.5%); pepper reached 722 million USD, down 4.9% (volume increasedby 23.4%). Particularly, rubber gained US $ 2.3 billion, up 10% (the volumeincreased 8.9%); tea reached 236 million USD, up 8.8% (volume up 8.1%).
Regarding export market, the United States isVietnam's largest export market with a turnover of 60.7 billion USD, up 27.8%;followed by EU with 41.7 billion USD, down by 0.7%; China reached 41.5 billionUSD, up 0.2%; ASEAN reached 25.3 billion USD, up 1.9%; Japan reached 20.3billion USD, up 7.7%; South Korea reached 19.8 billion USD, up 8.3%.
From the opposite direction, import turnovers of goodsreached US $ 253.51 billion last year, an increase of 7% compared to 2018.Notably, in the past year, there were 37 imported items with turnover of overUS $ 1 billion, accounting for 90.6% of total import turnover (4 items reachedover 10 billion USD, accounting for 45.8%). China is still the largest importmarket of Vietnam with a turnover of 75.3 billion USD, up 14.9%; followed bythe Korean market with 47.3 billion USD, down 0.6%; ASEAN market reached 32.1billion USD, up 0.8%; Japan reached 19.6 billion USD, up 3%; EU market reached14.8 billion USD, up 6.4%; The United States reached 14.3 billion USD, up12.3%.
In recent years, exports have always been a highlightof the economic picture. Especially, in two consecutive years 2018 and 2019,Vietnam's exports have had a "spectacular breakthrough", which is considered a country with very strong export growth. In terms of scale, Vietnamhas risen to become the 22nd largest export economy in the world. Contributingto the overall results of the economy, it is due to Vietnam's openness and international integration policy. Thereby creating and expanding vast international market space for Vietnamese businesses and goods develop. Thisresult is even more significant in the context of economic, world trade is declining due to the impact of trade conflicts and strategic competition among major economies in the world. This result has also led Vietnam to maintain the trade surplus of the 4th consecutive year in 2019, with more than 9.9 billionUSD.
Looking back on the process of integration and development, the export and import markets have been expanded, not only strengthening in traditional markets but also exploring new, potential marketsand effectively taking advantage of the Agreements. Free Trade Agreement (FTA)and other regional and multilateral cooperation frameworks. Vietnam's export shave reached almost all markets in the world, many products have gradually gained a firm foot hold and improved their competitiveness in markets with high quality requirements such as the EU. , Japan, the United States, Australia ...In particular, exports to markets that are members of the CPTPP achieved good growth, showing the first step to effectively take advantage of the commitments from this agreement to boost exports. Exports diversify export markets (exportto Canada reached 3.86 billion USD, up 28.2%; Mexico reached 2.84 billion USD,up 26.8%...).