Vietnam's demand for imported goods
Vietnam's demand for imported goods
Vietnam has 3 sides bordered by the sea, so it is very convenient for trade activities. Vietnam's goods import turnover has continuously increased over the past years, reaching USD 262.7 billion in 2020, an increase of 3.7% compared to 2019. For the first nine months of 2021, despite being heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that causes domestic consumption demand and many production and export activities to decline, Vietnam's goods import still increased sharply, reaching USD 243.2 billion, an increase of 30.8% compared to the same period last year (General Department of Vietnam Customs, 2021).
Vietnam’s imports can be divided into two categories:
-
Import of machinery, equipment and raw materials for production and export: This is the main import group of Vietnam, with the import turnover of this commodity group reaching USD 245.6 billion, accounting for 93.6% of total import turnover in 2020. Of which, about half are machinery, equipment, means of transport and spare parts (49.4% of total import turnover), the rest is group of raw materials (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2020);
-
Import of consumer goods for domestic consumption: This group accounted for about 6.4% of Vietnam's total import turnover in 2020, consisting mainly automobiles, mobile phones, processed vegetables and fruits and foods, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics… (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2020)
Table: Top 10 products that Vietnam imported the most in 2020
|
No |
Products |
Import value (USD billion ) |
Proportion |
|
1 |
Computers, electronic products & components |
63.97 |
24.35% |
|
2 |
Machinery, equipment, & spare parts |
37.25 |
14.18% |
|
3 |
Mobile phones and accessories |
16.65 |
6.34% |
|
4 |
Fabrics of all kinds |
11.88 |
4.52% |
|
5 |
Plastic materials |
8.40 |
3.20% |
|
6 |
Iron and Steel |
8.07 |
3.07% |
|
7 |
Plastic products |
7.27 |
2.77% |
|
8 |
Other common metals |
6.05 |
2.30% |
|
9 |
Chemical products |
5.74 |
2.19% |
|
10 |
Textiles, garments, footwear materials |
5.38 |
2.05% |
Source: General Department of Vietnam Customs, 2020
Source: "Business Handbook: Exploiting the EVFTA to import and export goods between Vietnam and Germany" - Center for WTO and International Trade
