HANOI: The Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that Vietnam’s trade deficit with China continued to grow, presently at US$22.3 billion, and with another quarter of the year left to go.
The situation is not new however. The recently released figure predicts 2015 will result in a year-on-year increase of 29 per cent. The $28.9 billion deficit in 2014 was 21.8 per cent larger than that of 2013.
Independent economic expert Nguyen Tri Hieu, who holds a PhD in business management, told Vietnam News that the deficit in trade with China has existed for many years and keeps growing.
Vietnam has increasingly imported from China over recent years, rising from $28.78 billion in 2012 to $43.86 billion in 2014. The ministry forecasts that the figure could reach $35 billion this year.
The country’s total import turnover from China so far this year is $32.7 billion, which is 29.8 per cent of the country’s total imports, reported Nguyen Tien Vy, head of the ministry’s Department of Planning.
Vietnam’s main imports from China are machinery, equipment, steel and fertiliser and exports crude oil, telephones and parts, rubber, rice, fruit, vegetables, seafood, minerals and raw materials.
“Meanwhile, the devaluation of China’s yuan has created more difficulties for Vietnamese exporters as Vietnamese products become more expensive in China’s market,” he said. It should also be noted that a decline of China’s economy led to a decrease in China’s import demand from other countries, which included Vietnam, he said.
