Vietnam continues to enjoy large trade surplus in UK market

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam enjoyed a 1.5 billion USD trade surplus with the UK for the first four months of 2018 as the country exported 1.75 billion USD worth of goods to the market and imported 238 million USD. According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam’s export revenue to the European country in the first three months of 2018 reached 1.31 billion USD, up 30.6 percent over the same period last year. Meanwhile, Vietnam imported 185 million USD worth of goods from the UK, up 17.6 percent year on year, resulting in a big trade imbalance. From January until the end of April, Vietnam mainly exported to the UK telephones and spare parts, footwear, garment, and aquatic products, with respective export value exceeding 705 million USD, 201 million USD, 215 million USD and 78 million USD. At the same time, Vietnam imported from the UK 67 million USD worth of machineries, equipment and spare part, 45 million USD of pharmaceuticals and more than 13 million USD of chemicals. Earlier in 2013-2017, the UK was among the 15 largest trade partners of Vietnam with average annual growth of nearly 5 percent. Two-way trade grew a total 44 percent in the review period to 6.15 billion USD in 2017 from 4.27 billion USD in 2013. Last year, the UK was the eighth biggest export market of Vietnam, one position higher than 2016. Meanwhile, it was Vietnam’s 26th biggest import market, down two positions compared to the previous year. In the past five years, Vietnam’s exports to the UK surged 46.4 percent to 5.42 billion USD, accounting for 2.5 percent of the country’s total export volume. In the same period, the Southeast Asian’s import revenue in the UK market increased 30 percent, reaching 733 million USD in 2017. Vietnam continuously enjoyed a large trade surplus with the UK, with last year’s figure hitting 4.68 billion USD. The UK is also the third biggest trade partner of Vietnam among EU countries.-VNA