Overcoming a difficult journey due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, the total export and import turnover of goods for the whole year reached a record number of 668.54 billion USD, an increase of 22.6% compared to 2020.
2021 is the first year of implementing the Plan 5-year socio-economic development 2021-2025, our country is making efforts to fulfill the goals set out in the Plan. But the Covid-19 pandemic continued to develop complicatedly, causing negative effects on economic activities, in which import and export of goods were seriously affected. These fluctuations and difficulties have made countries tend to use domestic products instead of imported products when implementing measures to close borders to prevent pandemics. Therefore, many countries have used trade protection measures and technical barriers to strengthen the protection of domestic products, especially agricultural and aquatic products.
GDP growth for the whole year was only 2.58%, the lowest level in recent decades. In which, GDP growth in the third quarter recorded a negative number for the first time. However, there are still bright spots in the general picture, one of which is import and export activities.
The Government’s unified, flexible and close administration with the goal of “Safely adapting, flexibly and effectively controlling the COVID-19 pandemic” is reflected in Resolution 128/NQ-CP dated 11/10/2021 is a premise for Viet Nam’s import and export activities to stand firm in the global disruption of international trade, maintain growth momentum and create important traction for the whole economy. In the context of the world economy having many risks and uncertainties, a decline in global trade, and a decrease in exports from countries in the region compared to the previous year, Viet Nam still maintained a high export and import growth rate in 2021.
In December 2021, export and import of goods continued to be a bright spot of the economy with the total turnover estimated at 66.2 billion USD, went up 6% over the previous month and up 19.2% over the same period last year. In which, the export turnover of goods in December reached 34.6 billion USD, grow up 8.5% over the previous month and up 25.1% over the same period last year. Import turnover reached 31.6 billion USD, up 3.3% over the previous month, up 13.3% over the same period last year.
Generally in 2021, the total export and import turnover of goods reached 668.54 billion USD,went up 22.6% over the previous year, of which exports increased by 19%; imports increased by 26.5%.
Export turnover of goods in 2021 reached 336.31 billion USD, went up 19% over the previous year. In which, the domestic economic sector reached 91.09 billion USD, up 14.2%, accounting for 27.1% of total export turnover; the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) reached 245.22 billion USD, up 20.9%, accounting for 72.9%. In 2021, there are 35 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 93.8% of total export turnover (there are 8 export items with over 10 billion USD, accounting for 69.7%).
Import turnover of goods in 2021 reached 332.23 billion USD, grow up 26.5% over the previous year, of which the domestic economic sector reached 114.03 billion USD, up 21.8%; the foreign direct investment sector reached 218.21 billion USD, up 29.1%. In 2021, there are 47 imported items with a value of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 94.1% of the total import turnover.
Regarding the export and import markets of goods in 2021, the United States is the largest export market of Viet Nam with a turnover of 96.3 billion USD. China is Viet Nam’s largest import market with a turnover of 109.9 billion USD. In 2021, the trade surplus to the EU reach 23 billion USD, up 12.1% over the previous year; trade deficit from China is 53.9 billion USD, up 52.7%; trade deficit from Korea was 34.2 billion USD, up 22.9%; trade deficit from ASEAN is 12 billion USD, up 63.1%; trade deficit from Japan is 2.5 billion USD, up 140%.
From 2016 to 2020, the trade balance of import and export of goods has been continuously in surplus, with the trade surplus of the following year higher than the previous year. In 2016, our country’s trade surplus of goods reached 1.6 billion USD; 2017 reached 1.9 billion USD; in 2018 increased to 6.46 billion USD; in 2019 reached 10.57 billion USD and in 2020 reached 19.94 billion USD.
2021 is a difficult year with the heavy impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the trade surplus continues to be maintained. Until the end of the third quarter of 2021, the trade balance of goods still had a trade deficit of 2.55 billion USD, but with constant efforts in the fourth quarter, by the end of 2021, the trade balance of goods has reached a trade surplus of 4.08 billion USD. Although the trade surplus in 2021 is only 20% of the trade surplus in 2020, in the difficult context caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, import and export are still a bright spot and an important premise for the economy to be stable entering the year 2022.