The two-way trade between Vietnam and China grew vigorously to reach more than US$16.4 billion in January, registering a year-on-year increase of over 48 percent, with a trade surplus for China, according to official statistics.

In the first month of the year, Vietnam exported over $4.55 billion worth of goods to China, up 17.28 percent from a year earlier, while China’s exports to Vietnam amounted to $11.88 billion, a sharp increase of 63.64 percent year on year, the Vietnamese General Department of Customs reported.

That means Vietnam saw a deficit of over $7.3 billion in trade with its northern neighbor, the agency said.

Overall, the bilateral trade totaled more than $16.43 billion, a surge of 48.4 percent compared to the same month of 2023.     

Except for cellphones and accessories that saw a decline of $900 million in export value, most of the other main groups of Vietnamese exports to China posted high growths in January. 

Those exports that earned hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in the month included computers, electronic products and components; cameras, camcorders and accessories; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; vegetables and fruits, and seafood, to name a few.

Most prominent among the key exports to China were fruits and vegetables that brought $306 million, up 121 percent over the same period last year and accounting for 62.45 percent of Vietnam’s total fruit and vegetable export turnover.

January also saw China’s imports of Vietnamese seafood strongly increase as Chinese investors boosted imports to serve increased demand during the recent Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, ranking China the second largest importer of this commodity from Vietnam, after Japan. 

Notably, shrimp and tra fish (pangasius) earned a combined turnover of over $120 million, registering a quadruple rise from a year earlier, making China the top import market for these items from Vietnam in the month.

In 2023, the two-way trade between the two countries hit about $171.2 billion, representing 25.16 percent of Vietnam’s total export value, sustaining China’s top position among the trading partners of the Southeast Asian country, according to the department  

Vietnam also reported a deficit of $50 billion in trade with China last year.

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