Archive:Vietnam-EU - international trade in goods statistics

Data extracted in March 2020
Planned article update: March 2021

Highlights

In 2019, Vietnam was the 31^st largest partner for EU exports of goods (1 %) and the eleventh largest partner for EU imports of goods (2 %).

Among EU Member States, Germany was both the largest importer of goods from and the largest exporter of goods to Vietnam.

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This article provides a picture of the international trade in goods between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam. It analyses the type of goods exchanged between the two economies and the shares of each EU Member State in those exchanges.

This article is part of an online publication providing recent statistics on international trade in goods, covering information on the EU's main partners, main products traded, specific characteristics of trade as well as background information.

Full article

EU and Vietnam in world trade in goods

Figure 1a shows the position of Vietnam among the largest traders in the world in 2018. The four largest exporters were China (EUR 2 107 billion, 16 %), the EU-27 (EUR 1 908 billion, 14 %), the United States (EUR 1 412 billion, 11 %) and Japan (EUR 626 billion, 5 %). The four largest importers were the United States (EUR 2 107 billion, 16 %), the EU-27 (EUR 2 060 billion, 15 %), China (EUR 1 810 billion, 13 %) and Japan (EUR 634 billion, 5 %). Figure 1b has some more details. It shows that Vietnam (EUR 206 billion, 2 %) was the 20^th largest exporter in the world between Malaysia (EUR 210 billion, 2 %) and Brazil (EUR 203 billion, 2 %). It was the 17^th largest importer in the worldVietnam (EUR 200 billion, 1 %) between Thailand (EUR 210 billion, 2 %) and Australia (EUR 199 billion, 1 %).

Figure 1a: Vietnam among the world's largest traders of goods, 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and UNCTAD

Top traders in goods with a focus on Vietnam, 2018 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and UNCTAD

Figure 2 shows the imports and exports of the EU and Vietnam indexed at 100 in 2008 for the period to 2018. It also shows the cover ratio (exports / imports) for this period. Exports from the EU were lowest in 2009 (83) and highest in 2018 (145). Imports to the EU were lowest in 2009 (77) and highest in 2018 (123). The cover ratio for the EU was lowest in 2008 (91 %) and highest in 2016 (116 %) and was 108 % in 2018. Exports from Vietnam were lowest in 2009 (91) and highest in 2018 (387). Imports to Vietnam were lowest in 2009 (87) and highest in 2018 (292). The cover ratio for Vietnam was lowest in 2008 (78 %) and highest in 2018 (103 %).

Figure 2: Trade in goods of the EU-27 and Vietnam, 2008 to 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and UNCTAD

Both exports to and imports from Vietnam increased between 2009 and 2019.

"Figure 3a shows the position of Vietnam among the largest trade partners of the EU in 2019. The four largest export partners of the EU were the United States (27 %), the United Kingdom (18 %), China (14 %) and Switzerland (10 %). The four largest import partners of the EU were China (19 %), the United States (12 %), the United Kingdom (10 %) and Russia (8 %). Figure 3b has some more details. It shows that Vietnam (EUR 11 billion, 0.8 %) was the 31^st largest export partner of the EU, between Qatar (EUR 11 billion, 0.8 %) and Tunisia (EUR 11 billion, 0.8 %). In imports Vietnam (EUR 34 billion, 1.8 %) was the eleventh largest partner of the EU, between India (EUR 40 billion, 2.1 %) and Taiwan (EUR 27 billion, 1.4 %). "

Figure 3a: Vietnam among the EU-27's main partners for trade in goods, 2019
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Figure 3b: Top trade in goods partners of the EU-27 with a focus on Vietnam, 2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Figure 4 shows exports, imports and trade balance between the EU and Vietnam. In 2009, the EU had a trade deficit with Vietnam of EUR 3 billion. The trade deficit remained throughout the whole period, reaching EUR 23 billion in 2019. Both exports to and imports from Vietnam increased between 2009 and 2019. EU exports to Vietnam were highest in 2019 (EUR 11 billion) and lowest in 2009 (EUR 4 billion). EU imports from Vietnam were highest in 2019 (EUR 34 billion) and lowest in 2009 (EUR 7 billion).

Figure 4: EU-27 trade in goods with Vietnam, 2009-2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

EU-Vietnam trade by type of goods

Figure 5 shows the breakdown of EU trade with Vietnam by SITC groups. The red colours denote the primary products: food & drink, raw materials and energy, while the blue colours show the manufactured goods: chemicals, machinery & vehicles and other manufactured goods. Finally, other goods are shown in green. In 2019, EU exports of manufactured goods (84 %) had a higher share than primary goods (14 %). The most exported manufactured goods were machinery & vehicles (48 %), followed by other manufactured products (19 %) and chemicals (18 %). In 2019, EU imports of manufactured goods (91 %) also had a higher share than primary goods (9 %). The most imported manufactured goods were machinery & vehicles (53 %), followed by other manufactured products (37 %) and chemicals (1 %).

Figure 5: EU-27 trade with Vietnam by product group, 2009 and 2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Figure 6 shows the evolution of EU imports and exports by SITC group since 2009. In 2019, the EU had trade surpluses in chemicals (EUR 1.7 billion), raw materials (EUR 0.3 billion), other products (EUR 0.1 billion) and energy (EUR 0.0 billion). The EU had trade deficits in food & drink (EUR 2.0 billion), other manufactured products (EUR 10.6 billion) and machinery & vehicles (EUR 12.8 billion).

Figure 6: EU-27 trade with Vietnam by group, 2009-2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

EU-Vietnam most traded goods

Figure 7 gives more detail about the goods exchanged between the EU and Vietnam, showing the 20 most traded goods at a (SITC-3 level. These top 20 goods covered 73 % of total trade in goods in 2019. Nine belonged to machinery and vehicles, eight to other manufactured products, two to food and drink and one to chemicals. The most traded product group at this level was telecommunications equipment. Another interesting way to look at the data is to investigate the cover ratio (exports / imports) of traded goods, showing the direction of the trade flows between the two economies. These ratios can be found in the right-hand margin of Figure 7. 17 products were below 50 %, indicating EU imports from Vietnam were at least twice as large as EU exports to Vietnam. Three products were above 200 %, indicating EU exports to Vietnam were at least twice as large as EU imports from Vietnam.

Figure 7: Most traded products between EU-27 and Vietnam, 2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

Trade with Vietnam by Member State

Table 1a shows the imports to Vietnam by Member State. The three largest importers from Vietnam in the EU were Germany (EUR 7 137 million), the Netherlands (EUR 6 164 million) and France (EUR 3 865 million). Austria (8.3 %) had the highest share for Vietnam in its extra-EU imports.

Table 1a: EU-27 imports of goods from Vietnam, 2019
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Table 1b shows the exports to Vietnam by Member State. The three largest exporters to Vietnam in the EU were Germany (EUR 4 301 million), France (EUR 1 621 million) and Italy (EUR 1 300 million). Luxembourg (1.7 %) had the highest share for Vietnam in its extra-EU exports.

Table 1b: EU-27 exports of goods to Vietnam, 2019
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Table 1c shows the trade balance between the EU Member States and Vietnam. The table shows that two Member States had a trade surplus with Vietnam. The largest surplus was held by Finland (EUR 16 million), followed by Ireland (EUR 10 million) and Malta (EUR million). There were 25 Member States that had a trade deficit with Vietnam. The largest deficit was held by the Netherlands (EUR 5 084 million), followed by Austria (EUR 2 993 million) and Germany (EUR 2 836 million).

Table 1c: EU-27 trade balance of goods with Vietnam, 2019 (EUR million)
'Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Source data for tables and graphs

EU-27 - Vietnam international trade in goods statistics - graphs and tables

Data sources

EU data is taken from Eurostat's COMEXT database. COMEXT is the reference database for international trade in goods. It provides access not only to both recent and historical data from the EU Member States but also to statistics of a significant number of third countries. International trade aggregated and detailed statistics disseminated via the Eurostat website are compiled from COMEXT data according to a monthly process.

Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the Member States and compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat. For extra-EU trade, the statistical information is mainly provided by the traders on the basis of customs declarations.

EU data are compiled according to Community guidelines and may, therefore, differ from national data published by the Member States. Statistics on extra-EU trade are calculated as the sum of trade of each of the 28 EU Member States with countries outside the EU. In other words, the EU is considered as a single trading entity and trade flows are measured into and out of the area, but not within it.

Data for the other major traders are taken from the Comtrade database of the United Nations. Data availability differs among countries, therefore Figure 1 shows the latest common available year for all the main traders. For the calculation of shares the world trade is defined as the sum of EU trade with non-EU countries (source: Eurostat) plus the international trade of non-EU countries (source: IMF Dots database).

Methodology According to the EU concepts and definitions, extra-EU trade statistics (trade between EU Member States and non-EU countries) do not record exchanges involving goods in transit, placed in a customs warehouse or given temporary admission (for trade fairs, temporary exhibitions, tests, etc.). This is known as ‘special trade'. The partner is the country of final destination of the goods for exports and the country of origin for imports.

Product classification Information on commodities exported and imported is presented according to the Standard international trade classification (SITC). A full description is available from Eurostat's classification server RAMON.

Unit of measure Trade values are expressed in millions or billions (10⁹) of euros. They correspond to the statistical value, i.e. to the amount which would be invoiced in case of sale or purchase at the national border of the reporting country. It is called a FOB value (free on board) for exports and a CIF value (cost, insurance, freight) for imports.

Context

Trade is an important indicator of Europe’s prosperity and place in the world. The bloc is deeply integrated into global markets both for the products it sources and the exports it sells. The EU trade policy is an important element of the external dimension of the ‘Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ and is one of the main pillars of the EU’s relations with the rest of the world.

Because the 28 EU Member States share a single market and a single external border, they also have a single trade policy. EU Member States speak and negotiate collectively, both in the World Trade Organization, where the rules of international trade are agreed and enforced, and with individual trading partners. This common policy enables them to speak with one voice in trade negotiations, maximising their impact in such negotiations. This is even more important in a globalised world in which economies tend to cluster together in regional groups.

The openness of the EU’s trade regime has meant that the EU is the biggest player on the global trading scene and remains a good region to do business with. Thanks to the ease of modern transport and communications, it is now easier to produce, buy and sell goods around the world which gives European companies of every size the potential to trade outside Europe.