On October 29, according to information from the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines (Ministry of Industry and Trade), total bilateral trade between Vietnam and the Philippines reached nearly USD 6.5 billion in the first nine months of 2024, marking an increase of over 20% compared to the same period last year.**
Of this total, export turnover surpassed USD 4.6 billion, reflecting a 20.7% rise, while imports remained close to USD 1.9 billion, similar to the previous year’s figures.
With this growth trend, it is projected that in 2024, bilateral trade between Vietnam and the Philippines will exceed USD 8 billion for the first time, reaching an estimated USD 8.5 billion, with a trade surplus of over USD 3 billion.
In terms of product categories, 20 out of 35 sectors that Vietnam exports to the Philippines reported positive growth in the first nine months of 2024.
However, some export categories showed a decline, such as seafood, which dropped by 21.2%, and animal feed and raw materials, which decreased by 15.6%.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines, rice remains a leading export from Vietnam to the Philippines, maintaining impressive growth. In the first nine months, Vietnam's rice exports to the Philippines totaled USD 1.98 billion.
For the last three months of the year, it is expected that the Philippines’ demand for rice imports will continue to rise sharply due to increased domestic consumption and losses in the country's end-of-year harvest caused by natural disasters.