The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) reported that bilateral trade witnessed strong recovery in the first two quarters, hitting nearly US$95 billion.

The orders from big markets has increased sharply during the period, leading to higher demand for machinery and material imports to serve production for export. As a result, Vietnamese businesses spent US$67 billion on imports from China and raked in US$27.8 billion from exports to this market, respectively rising nearly 35% and 5.3% year-on-year.

China remains the biggest supplier of materials for Vietnam, accounting for nearly 37.6% of the country's total import value in the last six months, according to the MoIT.

Thanks to such strong improvement during H1, bilateral trade is forecast to approximate US$200 billion this year. The figure can reach US$190 billion if the H1 growth is sustained during the remaining months, and even top US$200 billion if better recovery is recorded.

Last year, the Vietnam - China trade turnover reached US$171.9 billion. Of the figure, Vietnam’s exports stood at US$61.2 billion (up 5.6%), and imports US$110.6 billion (down 6.6%), respectively making up 17.3% and 33.9% of the country’s total exports and imports.

Businesses have quickly capitalised on advantages generated by the free trade agreements (FTA) with China such as the ASEAN - China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to benefit from preferential tariffs.

Insiders said they believes that room remains ample for Vietnam and China to expand trade ties in the time to come.

As scheduled, the 2024 China International Fair for Trade In Services (CIFTIS) will take place in Beijing this September, focusing on such service sectors as energy, posts and telecommunications, finance, education, culture and tourism, and supply chain. It is hoped to further strengthen partnerships between Vietnamese and Chinese businesses.

Source: VOV