Vietnam's export turnover increased 22 per cent to reach $77.34 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, while the trade surplus was estimated at $2.03 billion.
A General Statistics Office (GSO) representative on March 29 said: “Vietnam has recorded a strong recovery of import and export activities.”
He said the total merchandise import-export turnover in Q1 reached $152.65 billion, up 24.1 per cent over the same period last year. While the export turnover reached $77.34 billion the import turnover also reached $75.31 billion, up 26.3 per cent.
GSO said goods export turnover in February reached $20.196 billion, $196 million higher than planned, adding that export turnover was estimated to reach $28.6 billion last month, marking an increase of 41.6 per cent over February and 19.2 per cent over the same period last year.
In Q1, there were 11 items with an export turnover of more than $1 billion, accounting for 76.6 per cent of the total export turnover. They included four items with an export turnover of over $5 billion, accounting for 54.7 per cent.
Import turnover reached $20.656 billion in February, $144 million lower than planned, said the GSO, estimating the import turnover to reach $28.2 billion last month, up 36.5 per cent over February and 27.7 per cent over the same period last year. In imports, materials for production were estimated at $70.58 billion, up 26.8 per cent over the same period last year and accounting for 93.7 per cent of the total import turnover.
GSO said the production expectation in Q2 was more positive with an increase of 27.5 per cent in registered capital at 447.8 trillion dong ($19.46 billion) in Q1. A survey on business trends of enterprises in the manufacturing and processing industries showed enterprises expect their production and business in Q2 to be better than in Q1.
At the same time, demand for consumption increased again last month with better domestic trade and freight transportation. The total retail sales of consumer goods and services last month increased 9.2 per cent over February and decreased 5.4 per cent from the same period last year. Though the cargo transportation increased by 5.3 per cent from the previous month, the transportation of passengers still faced difficulties due to the effects of the pandemic.
Total retail sales of consumer goods and services reached 1.291 quadrillion dong, up 5.1 per cent over the same period last year. Of which, the sales last month were estimated at 405.1 trillion dong, down 3.8 per cent from February and up 9.2 per cent over the same period last year.
In Q1, international visitors were estimated at 48,100 arrivals, down 98.7 per cent from the same period last year. Last month, there are 19,400 arrivals, up 77.3 per cent over February and down 95.7 per cent from last March, said the GSO.
The office also considered positive signals in mobilising and using capital, saying realised investment capital was estimated at 507.6 trillion dong in Q1, an increase of 6.3 per cent over the same period last year. The office said the increase was an important driving force for the mobilisation and use of social investment capital to grow strongly in the coming quarters of the year.
VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK