29 export items exceed 1 billion USD mark
In the context of a global economy still facing many risks, Vietnam's import and export in the first 6 months of 2026 continues to be a bright spot for the economy.
Total import and export turnover in the first 6 months of 2026 reached nearly 550 billion USD, an increase of 27.1% compared to the same period. Of which, exports increased by 21%, imports increased by 33.4%, causing the trade balance of goods to have a trade deficit of 16.7 billion USD.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong - Director of the Statistics Department, Ministry of Finance - said that in the first 6 months of 2026, there were 29 export items reaching over 1 billion USD, accounting for 92.1% of total turnover; of which 5 items reached over 10 billion USD, accounting for 62.6%. This result shows that the group of processed and manufactured industrial goods continues to play a leading role in growth, contributing to promoting production, jobs and investment of enterprises.
Ms. Huong also said that the United States continues to be Vietnam's largest export market with a turnover of 86.5 billion USD, while China is the largest import market with a turnover of 115.2 billion USD.
This development reflects the characteristics of the Vietnamese economy when both participating deeply in the global supply chain and maintaining close links with markets supplying raw materials, components and machinery for production. Maintaining trade growth with major partners is important in ensuring output for domestic production as well as meeting input needs of the economy.
16.7 billion USD trade deficit reflects demand for production expansion
The most notable information about import and export turnover in the first 6 months of 2026 is that the trade balance of goods shifted to a trade deficit of 16.7 billion USD. However, according to the Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), this development does not reflect the weakening of export activities but mainly stems from a higher import growth rate, in the context of strong increase in demand for raw materials, machinery, and equipment for production and export.
Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh - Head of the Service and Price Statistics Department (Statistics Department) said that to properly assess the meaning of this development, it is necessary to look at the import structure instead of just looking at the trade deficit figure. Statistics show that imports of production materials in the first 6 months of the year accounted for 94.1% of total import turnover, mainly concentrated in the group of computers, electronic products and components, raw materials and materials and production materials serving processing and manufacturing activities.
This shows that businesses are proactively importing raw materials, components and machinery to expand production, meeting export orders in the coming time as well as the investment needs of the economy. Therefore, from a certain perspective, the current trade deficit also reflects businesses' confidence in production and export prospects in the last months of the year.
The export structure also shows that Vietnam's production activities still maintained growth momentum. Many groups of processed and manufactured industrial goods continued to increase quite well, especially the group of computers, electronic products and components increased by 49.1%; machinery, equipment and tools, spare parts increased by 23.6%.
Trade deficit in this period is not yet a worrying sign as it mainly comes from the import of machinery, equipment and raw materials for production. The important thing is to continue to improve domestic production capacity, develop supporting industries, increase the localization rate and diversify import and export markets to improve the sustainability of foreign trade activities in the long term" - Ms. Oanh said.
