HANOI: Vietnam has returned to a goods trade surplus in September after nine consecutive months of deficit, but remains in a US$19.42bil deficit for the first nine months of this year, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The country posted a trade surplus of US$1.27bil in September, with total trade of goods reaching US$117.69bil, up 7.3% from August and 42.4% from the same month last year.
The September surplus followed a period of sustained trade deficits and offered some improvement in the trade balance, but the NSO said the accumulated deficit remained a matter to watch.
Exports in September reached US$59.48bil, up 8.5% from August and 39.1% from a year earlier.
Exports by domestic companies rose 9.9% year-on-year (y-o-y), while those by foreign-invested companies, including crude oil, surged 46.5%. Imports reached US$58.21bil in September, up 6% from the previous month and 45.8% from a year earlier.
Imports by domestic companies increased 22.1%, while those by foreign-invested companies rose 54.6%.
During January to September, Vietnam’s total trade of goods reached US$888.02bil, up 30.4% from the same period last year.
Exports rose 24.5% to US$434.30bil, while imports jumped 36.7% to US$453.72bil.
The faster growth in imports has been driven largely by production inputs, the NSO said, citing statistics that in the nine-month period, production materials accounted for 94.1% of total imports, worth US$426.92bil.
Foreign-invested companies continued to dominate exports, accounting for US$350.41bil, or 80.7% of the nine-month total, up 29.4% y-o-y. Domestic businesses exported US$83.89bil, up 7.5%.
The NSO’s report pointed out that 35 export products generated more than US$1bil each, together accounting for 94.3% of total exports. Seven products exceeded US$10bil, accounting for 70.7%.
The United States is Vietnam’s largest export market, with a value of US$140bil in the nine-month period. Vietnam ran a US$122.62bil trade surplus with the United States, up 23.8% from a year earlier.
China remained Vietnam’s largest import market, with a value of US$187.34bil and a trade deficit of US$121.48bil, up 43% over the same period in 2025. — Viet Nam News/ANN
