FDI sector helps maintain national trade surplus (VOV) - Foreign direct investment (FDI) have delivered an impressive performance in the past four months, helping Vietnam enjoy a trade surplus of US$683 million, equal to 1.5% of the country’s total export value. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) announced on May 5 that Vietnam earned an estimated US$45.74 billion from exports in four months, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%. The country has shifted its focus on exporting processed industrial and farm products rather than fuels and minerals. Export earnings from agro-forestry and fisheries products grew by 14% to US$7 billion, and those from processed industrial products rose by 19.4% to US$33 billion. Meanwhile, fuels and minerals dropped by 10.5% to US$2.9 billion in export value. Ten products with export earnings of more than US$1 billion each were telephone handsets and components (US$7.7 billion), garments (US$5.9 billion), footwear (US$2.8 billion), seafood (US$2.2 billion), machinery, equipment and tools (US$2.1 billion), means of transport and tools (US$2.1 billion), wood and timber products (US$1.9 billion), coffee (US$1.6 billion), and crude oil (US$2.1 billion). Most key export markets achieved high growth, for example Asia (13.6%), West Asia (12.3%), Europe (12.1%), America (27.8%), and Africa (14.1%). MoIT statistics also show four-month imports surged 13.7% to nearly US$45.1 billion. Asia ranked first among Vietnam’s import markets, purchasing US$35.96 billion worth of goods. Imports from China alone hit approximately US$13 billion, accounting for nearly 27.5% of Vietnam’s total import value. It’s worth noting that while FDI businesses enjoyed a trade surplus of nearly US$4.1 billion, domestic businesses produced an import surplus of more than US$3.4 billion. The MoIT said difficulties in garment and agricultural product exports, especially in e-customs procedure clearance and price competition, are barring Vietnam from meeting its US$132 billion export value target this year. To fulfill the target, the MoIT has asked relevant agencies to hold regular meetings with businesses to remove difficulties relating to capital and market access, and administration procedures. The MoIT will accelerate supplying information about export markets and anti-dumping price to help businesses establish proper business strategies. The ministry will provide businesses with up-to-date information about world market fluctuation so that they can avoid risks and promote exports.  VOV