Hanoi (VNA)🅷 - Vietnam's good imports and exports in 2023 have fallen short of the 700-billion-USD mark achieved in the previous year, estimating at 683 billionUSD, down 6.6% year on year, General Director of the General StatisticsOffice (GSO) Nguyen Thi Huong said at a press conference in Hanoi onDecember 29.

Specifically, the country's exports went down by 4.4% whileimports dropped by 8.9%, which was attributed to a decline in the globaldemand. However, the country achieved a record-breaking tradesurplus of 28 billion USD, significantly surpassing the figure of 12.1 billion USDrecorded last year. The export turnover was estimated to reach 355.5 billion USD this year, down 4.4% year on year. The domestic economic sector contributed 95.55 billion USD toVietnam’s total trade, witnessing a marginal 0.3% decline and constituting26.9% of the total export turnover. Meanwhile, the foreign-invested sector (includingcrude oil) contributed 259.95 billion USD, registering a 5.8% decrease, andaccounting for 73.1%. Notably, 35 commodities earned over 1 billion USD fromexports, equivalent to 93.6% of the total export turnover. Among them, seven raked in more than 10 billion USD, representing 66% of the total. Out of the 327.5 billion USD worth of imports, 117.29 billion USD camefrom the domestic economic sector while the remainder from the foreign-invested sector,marking respective decreases of 7.2% and 9.8%. There were 44 commodity categories with import valueexceeding 1 billion USD, or 92.4% of the total import turnover. Among them,four commodities saw import turnover surpassing 10 billion USD, making up a significant46.8%. While a considerable trade surplus was maintained, Vietnamcontinued to experience a deficit in service trade, with 19.59 billion USD worth of exports and 29.06 billion USD worth of imports. Thus, considering the overall trade in goods and services,Vietnam has still enjoyed a surplus of 18.53 billion USD. In order to achieve international trade goals set by theNational Assembly, Huong proposed that the Ministry of Industry and Tradeshould continue refining mechanisms and policies while creating a macroeconomicenvironment conducive to exports. The ministry should also minimise risks associated with traderemedy investigations to foster sustainable export growth. This involvesintensifying efforts in forecasting and providing early warnings to businessesabout products that may be subject to investigations, she said./.