VCN – Imports and exports in March saw prosperity with a turnover of more than US$20 billion in each and two-digit growth over February. This is the month with the largest import and export turnover in the first quarter.
Beyond estimates
According to the preliminary information of the General Department of Customs announced on the afternoon of April 14, in March, the country achieved export turnover of US$24.13 billion, up as much as 15.7% compared to February.
Meanwhile import turnover also increased to 19.2% over the previous month, reaching US$22.15 billion.
In March, our country continued to see a trade surplus of nearly US$2billion.
The newly released indicators show that the import and export activities in March were very bright in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic spreading around the world.
This result was also much higher than the estimates made by experts and managers a few days ago.
A few days ago, based on the result of imports and exports in the first 15 days of March and the epidemic movement and other related factors, experts and managers gave very gloomy estimates that total exports were only about US$20 billion, down 4.1%, while total import value was about US$19 billion, up 2.3%.
According to data announced by the General Department of Customs, the export value surpassed US$4 billion compared to the estimate and accounted for 38% of the country’s total export turnover in the first quarter. This is also the month with the largest export value in the first three months.
Similarly, the import turnover in March also exceeded US$3 billion compared to the estimate, accounting for 37.2% of import turnover in the first quarter. This is the month with the largest import value in the first three months.
Thus, in the first quarter, the country’s export turnover reached US$63,234 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%; while the import turnover reached US$59,494 billion, up 3.7%.
At the end of the first quarter, the country’s import-export turnover was US$122.73 billion and Vietnam had a trade surplus of US$3.74 billion.
A series of commodity groups see prosperity
Many export and import commodity groups, especially the major groups, have experienced significant growth.
First of all, in exports, a series of commodity groups had strong growth, in which five commodity groups had a turnover of US$1 billion or more and saw positive growth.
Phones and components maintain the leading role with a turnover of more than US$5.3 billion, up 9.2% in March and gained nearly US$12.9 billion in the whole first quarter, up 6.2% over the same period last year.
Computers, electronic products and components collected nearly US$3.7 billion, up as much as 34.5% compared to February and remained the second largest export commodity group of the country at the end of the first quarter with a turnover of over US$9 billion, up 28.7% over the same period in 2019.
The remaining billion-dollar export groups in March were textiles and garments; footwear; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts with turnovers and growth rates compared to February 2020 of US$2.34 billion, 4.7%; US$1.39 billion, 2.4%; and US$1.96 billion, 18.9% respectively.
In addition to the billion-dollar groups, many agricultural products also gained impressive growth in March.
Typically, seafood reached earned nearly US$629 million, up 25.5% compared to February; fruits and vegetables US$361.6 million, up 42.5%.
In particular, cashews reached 43,944 tons worth more than US$309 million, up as much as 68.4% in volume and 67% in turnover compared to February.
Regarding imports, in March, there were four commodity groups with a turnover of US$1 billion or more.
Of which, computers, electronic products and components reached more than US$5 billion, the largest import group and up 13.6% compared to February.
Followed by machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts with a turnover of more than US$3 billion, up 25.9%; mobile phones and accessories reached US$1.2 billion, up 26.4%; fabrics of all kinds reached US$1,068 billion, up 50.6%.
With the outstanding data mentioned above, it can be seen that in March, the country’s import-export activities saw remarkable prosperity even though this was the time when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out strongly across the country and around the world. This shows the efficiency in the direction and administration of the Government, the efforts of ministries, agencies, localities and the business community.
This is also a belief for Vietnam to simultaneously realize the dual goal of effectively preventing and fighting against the epidemic and ensuring economic development and social security.
Source: Customs News
