According to statistics from the Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and the Philippines by the end of November 2024 has officially exceeded 8 billion USD.
Specifically, Vietnam’s export turnover to the Philippine market in the first 11 months of 2024 reached 5.758 billion USD, an increase of 22.8% over the same period in 2023, and import turnover from the Philippines to Vietnam reached 2.284 billion USD, a decrease of 5% over the same period in 2023.
The total import-export turnover between Vietnam and the Philippines in the first 11 months of 2024 reached 8.042 billion USD. Notably, if in 2022 Vietnam had a trade surplus of 2.4 billion USD, and in 2023 Vietnam had a trade surplus of 2.5 billion USD to the Philippine market, then in just the first 11 months of 2024, Vietnam had a trade surplus of 3.474 billion USD to the Philippine market. This is an impressive growth in the context that Vietnam is looking for new directions for exporting goods, helping to reduce difficulties and pressure for domestic manufacturing enterprises.
It can be said that after many years of trade between Vietnam and the Philippines with import-export turnover only at a modest level of under 8 billion USD and no breakthroughs due to many subjective and objective reasons, especially businesses on both sides have not really seen the potential of the two markets, except for rice.
However, since the end of 2022, after the Covid-19 pandemic ended, realizing that the Philippines is a market with great potential for Vietnamese export goods, the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines has implemented many activities to promote the image of the country, people and products/goods of Vietnam to Philippine customers, partners and consumers through fairs, exhibitions and weekly activities or conferences, seminars to introduce and promote bilateral trade.
In addition, the reopening of direct flights from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City to Manila, Philippines by Vietnam Airlines with the support of the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines will also contribute to making it more convenient for traders and businesses on both sides.
Contributing to the impressive growth of Vietnam’s export turnover to the Philippine market in the first 11 months of 2024, the first to be mentioned is rice, with export turnover after the first 11 months of 2024 reaching nearly 2.5 billion USD, an increase of 57.2% over the same period in 2023.
Some other items with large export turnover to the Philippine market after the first 11 months of 2024 include machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts reaching nearly 360 million USD; clinker and cement reaching nearly 300 million USD; coffee reaching over 250 million USD; phones of all kinds and components reaching nearly 206 million USD; means of transport and spare parts reaching over 182 million USD; computers, electronic products and components reaching nearly 176 million USD; textiles reaching over 123 million USD.
Export items with turnover from over 50 million USD to under 100 million USD include seafood reaching over 98 million USD; footwear of all kinds reaching over 97 million USD; iron and steel of all kinds reaching over 93 million USD; chemicals reaching nearly 74 million USD; iron and steel products reaching nearly 64 million USD; plastic products reaching over 62 million USD; fibers and yarns of all kinds reaching over 75 million USD; electric wires and cables reaching nearly 60 million USD.
Some items with export turnover after 11 months of 2024 increased compared to the same period last year, including coffee, up 86%; pepper, up 40.1%; plastic materials, up 63.87%; fertilizers of all kinds, up 73%; cameras, camcorders and components, up 64.8%; phones of all kinds and components, up 40.8%; iron and steel products, up 84.3%.
Some items with large import turnover from the Philippine market after the first 11 months of 2024 include computers, electronic products and components reaching over 1.43 billion USD; machinery, equipment, tools and other spare parts reaching nearly 254 million USD; common metals reaching over 148 million USD; electric wires and cables reaching nearly 87 million USD and seafood reaching over 35 million USD. The remaining items all have small import turnover.
This positive result, along with the continuously increasing import-export activities between the two sides in the last month of the year, shows that the forecast of total import-export turnover between Vietnam and the Philippines in 2024 is about 8.5 billion USD, of which a trade surplus of over 3 billion USD is completely possible.