Vietnam to enjoy trade surplus for 9th consecutive year: experts

Vietnam is expected to maintain a trade surplus for the ninth consecutive year in 2024, given its export growth in the remainders of the year equal to that during January-July, according to experts.

During the seven-month span, the country’s export revenue rose 15.7% to 226.98 billion USD, with a trade surplus of 14.08 billion USD, according to the General Statistics Office.

Experts forecast Vietnam could ship 410 billion USD worth of products overseas, and enjoy a trade balance of more than 23 billion USD for the whole 2024.

An increase in trade surplus will contribute to improving the country’s balance of payments and international reserves to ensure the national financial security, they said.

In the first seven months of the year, there were 30 exports with a turnover of over 1 billion USD. Particularly, seven enjoyed an export value from 8 billion USD such as computers, electronic products and parts (nearly 39.9 billion USD), telephones and parts (32.4 billion USD), and machines, equipment, tools and components (over 27.6 billion USD).

Several products with significant growth in export earnings included coffee (51.9%), rice (18.2%), pepper (45%), rubber (14.8%), cassava and cassava products (13.9%).

As Vietnam is among the world's top exporters for many products like rice, pepper and garments, it is critical for the country to continue to improve product quality to meet the requirements of import markets. Companies also need to diversify into other markets and expand into others such as the Middle East, Africa and South America in order to minimise the risks from dependence on single or several markets, they suggested.