October alone witnessed the total preliminary import-export turnover hit US$69.19 billion, up 5.1% over the previous month and up 11.8% over the same period from last year.
As a result, import-export turnover during the 10-month span reached US$647.87 billion, up 15.8% on-year, of which exports surged by 14.9% and imports increased by 16.8%.
Most notably, the domestic economic sector fetched US$93.97 billion, up 20.7% and accounting for 28.0% of total export turnover. Elsewhere, the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) raked in US$241.62 billion, up 12.8%, making up 72.0% of the overall.
During the reviewed period, the United States was the country’s largest export market with a turnover of US$98.4 billion, whilst China represented the nation’s largest import market with a turnover of US$117.7 billion.
Also according to the GSO, the consumer price index (CPI) in October increased by 0.33% over the previous month and by 2.89% over last year’s corresponding period.
The main reason was due to food prices continuing to increase as a result of the impact of storms and floods, domestic gasoline prices increasing following world prices, and growing rental housing prices. In the 0.33% increase occurring in CPI in October compared to the previous month there were a total of 10 groups of goods and services with increased price indexes and one group of goods with decreased price indexes.
On average, the first 10 months of the year witnessed CPI increase by 3.78% over the same period from last year, while core inflation expanded by 2.69%.
The trade balance in October recorded a trade surplus of US$1.99 billion to bring the preliminary trade balance during the 10-month period to US$23.31 billion.
Targeting US$800 billion import- export target
Dr. Can Van Luc, chief economist of BIDV, member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, stated that at present export enterprises are facing numerous external risks, especially those from geopolitical factors, trade protectionism, and climate change.
Furthermore, the world economy, especially some major partners such as China, the EU, and the US, is growing slowly, which in turn impacts the recovery of exports and investment, with growth in private investment and consumption remaining low.
For textile and garment enterprises, the current difficulty is how to meet the green certifications required by the European, American, Japanese, and Korean markets. Even China has made a series of demands on textile and garment products.
During the past five years, Vietnamese enterprises have not been able to increase the price of orders due to a variety of factors, including the green factor in production activities that has prevented the increase in the price of garment products.
According to details given by economic experts, in addition to improving quality, local firms also need to pay attention to product packaging. At the same time, they should co-ordinate efforts with competent agencies to carry out solutions to promote product trade both directly and online.
Although there are still several difficulties, experts predict that with the current growth rate, this year’s import-export turnover is likely to reach US$800 billion, the highest ever.
