Việt Nam’s export value in the first two months rose by 8.4 per cent year on year to US$39.08 billion. Photo tapchitaichinh.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam gained a trade surplus of US$1.82 billion in the first two months this year despite strong impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the General Department of Customs.

Specifically, the country’s export value in the first two months rose by 8.4 per cent year on year to US$39.08 billion, including $20.85 billion in February, according to the general department’s statistics released on Wednesday.

The increase was due to strong export value growth of many products. Of which, the export value surged by 12.2 per cent to $900 million for phones and components; by 27.4 per cent to $1.6 billion for the group of computers, electronic products and components; and 25.3 per cent to $630 million for the group of machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts.

During the first two months, the country imported goods with a total value of $37.26 billion, up 2.9 per cent over the same period in 2019, including $18.58 billion in February.

Of which, the imported complete-built-unit (CBU) cars reached 14,523 units with a total value of $333.3 million. It was down 43.3 per cent in volume and 41.8 per cent in value compared to the first two months of last year.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Việt Nam could achieve export growth in the future when the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into effect as expected from July 2020. The EVFTA would open a great opportunity to penetrate a market with GDP of $18 trillion.

However, the ministry also noted that the COVID-19 outbreak has brought many difficulties to Việt Nam's trade activities. If the pandemic persists, it would have bad effects on the national export growth goal this year.

Most of Việt Nam's production materials such as garments and electronic components are imported from China, so the pandemic has also seriously affected imports. Việt Nam's agricultural exports via the border gates with China from February faced many difficulties because China has temporarily suspended goods trading of border residents due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Therefore, the ministry has worked with commodity associations, corporations and foreign invested enterprises to evaluate production and export activities and then has proposed solutions to the Government to remove the difficulties in production and export activities.

In addition, the ministry would issue guidance to implement commitments of the EVFTA. That will create favourable conditions for enterprises to take advantages from this agreement to promote exports.  VNS