HANOI: Vietnam posted a trade deficit of US$1.24 billion in May, according to the latest figures released by the General Department of Customs (GDC).
Commodity exports in the month rose 2.6% to reach US$13.7 billion while imports were valued at US$14.94 billion, up 13.2%, said the GDC in a post on its website.
In the five months to the end of May, exports totalled US$63.45 billion and imports US$66.5 billion, leaving the trade deficit at US$3.05 billion, slightly more than the initial estimate of US$3 billion.
Vietnam’s trade activity during the period continued to be led by the foreign sector, whose combined exports and imports were US$82.92 billion, a rise of 21.1% against the same period of last year.
Meanwhile the trade value of domestic enterprises was only US$47 billion, down 1.1% compared with the first five months of 2014, GDC data showed.
In May Vietnam’s rice shipments slumped by more than one fifth, contributing to the 11.2% fall in the first five months of the year, which, coupled with a 3.8% drop in the average price, caused the value of rice exports to contract by 14.6% against the same period a year earlier.
During the January-May period, other commodities also reported declines with coffee and seafood down by 39.2% and 16% respectively.
In contrast, exports of manufactured goods such as phones and garments continued to rise, up by 20.2% and 9.2% respectively. Footwear products also saw a strong rise of 21% against the same period last year.
On the import side, Vietnam’s main purchases were machinery, equipment, computers, phones and materials for the garment industry.
China remained the largest supplier of machinery and equipment for Vietnam, valued at US$3.72 billion, followed by the Republic of Korea and Japan, whose machinery exports to Vietnam reached US$2.2 billion and US$2.16 billion respectively.
