Growth quality rises on back of integration

Vietnam is moving up the value chain as higher-tech exports drive growth quality.

- By Thanh Dat

The Vietnam Customs last week released its preliminary data showing that the country’s total import-export turnover reached $496.65 billion as of June 15, up 27 per cent on-year. Exports rose 21 per cent to $239.93 billion, while imports climbed 33.1 per cent to $256.72 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $16.8 billion.

The country’s largest export categories are increasingly concentrated in technology-intensive and manufacturing sectors. Exports of computers, electronic products and components reached $63.5 billion by mid-June, while phones and components generated $29 billion. Machinery, equipment, tools, and spare parts contributed nearly $30 billion. All of these items witnessed an on-year rise.

Together, these three categories accounted for more than half of Vietnam’s total exports, underscoring the economy’s growing integration into higher-value segments of global supply chains.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam’s growth quality is gradually improving as the rise of export volumes was underpinned by fast diversification of the export basket towards increasingly more complex electronic products.

The global AI-related capex boom is reshaping technology supply chains and creating new export opportunities in East Asia. Intermediate goods, particularly semiconductors, are the backbone of AI-related trade across the region, alongside equipment exports such as data centre hardware.