Vietnam's total exports value to China in January 2018 totalled nearly 3.7 billion USD, up by 1.9 billion USD, or 106 percent, over the same period last year, according to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC).
This time in previous years, China’s annual import value from Vietnam was a mere 1.9 billion USD, making it the third biggest importer of Vietnam.
The main reason behind such strong bilateral trade growth is the scheduled commitments within the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) framework.
As of January 1, 2018, another 588 tariff lines between Vietnam and China have been cut to zero percent, bringing the number of eliminated tariff lines to 8,571, accounting for 90.3 percent of total tariffs.
Statistics from the General Statistics Office (GSO) show that until December 2017, the US remained Vietnam's largest export market, but imports from Vietnam in January 2018 totalled 3.6 billion USD, having increased 624 million USD year-on-year.
The third biggest importer of Vietnam in January 2018 is the EU at 3 billion USD export value, up by 6.6 percent from January 2017; followed by ASEAN at 1.7 billion USD, then Japan and the REpublic of Korea at 1.5 billion USD and 1.3 billion USD, respectively.
In January 2018, the highest-valued Vietnamese exports to China were mobile phone components with a turnover of nearly $895 million. In addition, exports of computer parts and electronic components to China also reached 691 million USD in the first month of the year. Vegetables and fruits have risen to become the third most valuable export to China at 296.3 million USD.
During the same period, Vietnam spent 5.767 billion USD importing goods from China, meaning a trade deficit of 2.059 billion USD. This number has decreased slightly by 46 million USD, compared with the trade deficit of 2.105 billion USD in January 2017.
In December 2017, the China International Finance Corporation (CICC) predicted that China will overtake the US as the world’s largest importer over the next five years.
They said that China is currently the largest exporter, and the second largest importer in the world, in the context of a stable domestic economy and recovering global commodity prices.
The CICC report notes that China’s trend of increasing imports has had a huge impact on the global market as it is the largest importer of 41 countries and territories.
As the world’s most populous market, China is expected to become the largest consumer market in the world and will start importing more consumer goods than raw industrial materials.-VNA