89% of imports raw materials for domestic production: Ministry
Up to 89% of the imports in the first four months of this year are raw materials and accessories for domestic production with a combined value of US$106.6 billion, up 16.8% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
It reported on May 4 that Vietnam’s total imports expanded 15.7% year-on-year to an estimated US$119.8 billion in the period.
In April alone, the figure was estimated to reach US$32.2 billion, down 1.5% month-on-month and up 15.5% compared to the same period last year.
The import of energy products strongly surged, partly due to scarce supply.
Notably, the import turnovers of gasoline and oil, coal, crude oil and liquefied natural gas surged by 146.9%, 123%, 63.7% and 62.7%, respectively.
In addition, the import of other items also increased sharply such as petroleum products (up 30.3%), chemicals (up 29.3%), chemical product (26.71%), fertiliser (73.3%), rubber (34%), mobile phones and accessories (20.8%).
China was the largest market of Vietnam in the first four months, with an estimated turnover of 36.78%, up 8.3% compared to the same period last year.
Vietnam also imported goods from the Republic of Korea, ASEAN, Japan, EU, and the US with respective values of US$23.3 billion, US$16.4 billion, US$8.2 billion, US$5.3 billion and US$4.7 billion.