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| Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA) |
The total export-import turnover of Vietnam reache 178.04 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, up 15.5% annually, resulting in a trade surplus of 8.08 billion USD, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO) on March 29.
Exports performed particularly well, with an estimated value of 93.06 billion USD, reflecting a 17% year-on-year growth. Processed industrial goods dominated exports, accounting for a substantial 88.1% share with a value of 82.02 billion USD.
Imports, on the other hand, reached 84.98 billion USD, representing a 13.9% increase. Production materials comprised the bulk of imports at 79.9 billion USD, or roughly 94% of the total import value.
The US remained Vietnam's top export market during the period, with an estimated turnover of 26.2 billion USD. Meanwhile, China held the position of the largest importer for Vietnam, with goods valued at 29.4 billion USD entering the country.
While the overall trade picture was positive, a closer look revealed a disparity between domestic and foreign-invested sectors. The domestic economic sector experienced a trade deficit of 4.49 billion USD while the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil, recorded a significant surplus of 12.57 billion USD.
In light of these findings, former General Director of the GSO Nguyen Bich Lam emphasised the need for the Ministry of Industry and Trade to refine existing mechanisms and policies. This would foster a more favourable macroeconomic environment for exports, promote sustainable export growth, and diversify markets to achieve a healthy and balanced trade relationship with Vietnam's partners.
Vietnam boasts three seaports in Top 50 largest container seaports worldwide
Vietnam boasts three seaports listed among the Top 50 largest container ports globally, namely Ho Chi Minh City Port, Hai Phong Port and Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
In the Lloyd's 2023 list, which ranked ports by the volume of container traffic represented in million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), the port of HCM City secured the 23rd position, slipping one spot from the previous year’s list. With 106 routes in Asia, one to America and two to Europe, the 160-year port handled over 7.9 million TEU in 2022, down 0.6% year-on-year.
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| The port of HCM City. In the Lloyd's 2023 list, the port of HCM City secures the 23rd position. (Photo: saigonport.vn) |
The Hai Phong Port also dropped one place to the 31st position, handling over 5.6 million TEU in 2022. As Vietnam’s second largest container hub, it facilitates 69 routes within Asia, two to America and one to Europe.
Maintaining its 32nd position, the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province managed the throughput of nearly 5.6 million TEU. It services nine Asian routes, 21 to America and five to Europe.
Vietnam leads the ASEAN region with three ports in the Lloyd’s list, followed by Malaysia with two ports, while the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore each have one.
Most of Vietnam’s international trade relies on sea transport. The country’s seaport system is now capable of accommodating the world’s largest tonnage vessels, drawing in 40 major global shipping lines.
In 2023, Vietnam’s freight transport reached more than 2.3 billion tonnes, up by 15.4% year-on-year, with goods turnover hitting 490 billion tonnes, up 10.8%.
For the first two months of 2024, freight transport was estimated to increase by 13.9% to 416 million tonnes, with goods turnover rising by 14% to 88 billion tonnes compared to the same period in 2023. Notably, waterway and maritime freight transport have shown impressive growth rates of 21% and 18.1%, respectively.
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| Tan Vu Port (Photo: haiphongport.com.vn) |
As of 2023, Vietnam's sea fleet comprised 1,447 vessels, including 1,015 cargo ships, totalling approximately 10.7 million DWT. The country ranks 3rd in ASEAN and 27th globally, with an average vessel age of 15.5 years. Vietnamese enterprises own foreign-flagged vessels with a total tonnage of 2.5 million DWT.
According to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam's sea fleet has seen rapid growth in recent years, handling 100% of domestic cargo volume and 6-8% of the export-import cargo market share.
Brazilian football legends to land in Da Nang
Brazilian football legends including Dunga, Rivaldo, Lucio, Edmilson, Kleber, Giovani, Zé Carlos, and Paulo Sergio will feature in the Brazil-Vietnam Football Festival 2024 in the central beach city of Da Nang in April, said the Vietnam News Agency.
The event organisers said the festival, slated on April 27-28, aims at celebrating the 35th anniversary of Vietnam-Brazil diplomatic ties, and boosting connections in sports, tourism, and business between the city and Brazil.
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Duong Quang Thuan, Director of America & Asia Connect Co.Ltd, Head of the Organizing Committee at a press conference announcing activities of Brazil-Vietnam Football Festival
(Photo: VNA) |
The legends team, which includes stars who won the World Cup in 1994 and 2002, will be playing a friendly match with Vietnamese ex-national players on April 27.
Vietnamese football fans in the city will have an opportunity to meet Brazilian and Vietnamese football legends from 4pm to 7pm at a local 20,000-seat stadium.
A centre called the Brazil Football Academy is planned to debut at the city’s V-Village in Hoa Vang district as part of the festival.
This is also an opportunity for Brazilian and Vietnamese partners and businesses to build connections in the beach festival on April 28.
Over 4.6 million foreign tourists visit Vietnam in Q1
Vietnam has welcomed over 4.6 million foreign tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year, up 72% year-on-year, and 3.2% compared to the figure recorded in the same period of 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak, the Vietnam News Agency quoted the figures announced by the General Statistics Office (GSO) on March 29.
The GSO attributed the result to favourable visa policies, tourism stimulus programmes, and efforts made by local authorities and the sector.
Among the foreign arrivals, 83.6% have travelled to Vietnam by air, 13.5% by road and 2.9% by sea.
Revenue from accommodation and food services in the first quarter is estimated at 174.8 trillion VND (6.98 billion USD), and from travel and tourism activities at 14.1 trillion VND, up 46.3% year-on-year.
In the period, 1.2 million Vietnamese people travelled abroad, a year-on-year rise of 11.5%.
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| Over 4.6 million foreign tourists visit Vietnam in Q1 (Photo: vietnamtourism.gov.vn) |
In March alone, nearly 1.6 million international tourists have visited Vietnam, leading to a month-on-month increase of 4.4%.
This year, the tourism sector set targets of serving 18 million foreign tourists and 110 million domestic ones, and earning 850 trillion VND from visitors.
To that end, the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism said that efforts will be made to carry out promotion activities, diversify products and services, and the tourism sector will coordinate with other sectors such as agriculture and industry to create products that increase the length of visitors' stay in Vietnam and thus spending./.