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According to the information from the Conference on Summarizing the Work in 2024 and Deploying Tasks for the Industry and Trade Sector in 2025, despite numerous challenges, Vietnam’s economy continued to show a strong recovery, with each month and quarter performing better than the last.
It is expected that Vietnam’s economic growth rate in 2024 could reach and exceed 7%, placing the country among the few high-growth nations in the region and the world.
This is a very positive outcome, especially considering the implementation of wage increases from July 1, 2024, and adjustments to the prices of certain goods and services towards the end of the year, while still keeping inflation under control at below 4%.
Major balances were ensured, especially energy security and the balance of supply and demand for essential goods and raw materials for production…
Along with this, the Vietnamese economy recorded many remarkable achievements and historical records.
Trade Turnover Reaches Historic Milestone of Approximately $800 Billion
The import and export activities in 2024 witnessed a strong recovery. Total trade turnover is expected to reach $800 billion, an increase of 15%, nearly two and a half times higher than the government’s target of about 6%. Of this, exports are estimated at over $400 billion, up 14.4%, and imports up 16.4%. The trade balance maintained a high surplus of about $25 billion, marking the 9th consecutive year of trade surplus.
There were 36 export commodities with a turnover of over $1 billion (compared to 33 in the same period last year), accounting for 94.1% of the total export turnover (including 7 export commodities with a turnover of over $10 billion, accounting for 66.5%). There were 44 import commodities with a turnover of over $1 billion, accounting for 92.6% of the total import turnover (including 5 import commodities with a turnover of over $10 billion, accounting for 51.4%).
The 500 kV Line 3 Project Sets Multiple Records
The 500kV Line 3 Quang Trach – Pho Noi project, with a total length of about 519 km and consisting of 1,177 towers, presented a formidable challenge with the tallest tower reaching 145 meters and the heaviest weighing 415 tons. The project was carried out under harsh weather conditions and traversed difficult terrain.
However, after just over 6 months of construction and an enormous amount of work, the project set records in terms of construction time, workload, resource mobilization, and problem-solving mechanisms. This is a remarkable achievement not only for the power industry but also for Vietnam, demonstrating the swift execution of a complex project within an extremely short period. This was accomplished despite adverse weather conditions and challenging terrain.
E-commerce Surpasses $25 Billion Milestone
Despite global and regional economic challenges, Vietnam’s e-commerce continued to maintain an impressive growth rate of 18-25% annually.
In 2024, the e-commerce market is expected to surpass the $25 billion mark, a 20% increase compared to 2023, and account for about 9% of the country’s total retail sales of goods and services.
Currently, the e-commerce market accounts for two-thirds of the country’s digital economy and has helped Vietnam enter the top 10 countries with the fastest-growing e-commerce in the world, driving economic development and leading digital transformation in businesses.
Breakthrough in Tapping into Potential Large Markets
On October 28, 2024, after more than a year of negotiations, Vietnam and the UAE successfully concluded the Vietnam-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). This is the first FTA that Vietnam has signed with an Arab country, opening a new chapter in economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
The conclusion of the Agreement after just over a year of negotiations also sets a new record, reflecting the proactive and leading role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in international economic cooperation. With this Agreement, Vietnam has now signed or negotiated 19 FTAs, further expanding its global trade integration.
This Agreement opens up numerous opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to enter the Halal market. The global Halal industry is currently thriving, serving over 2 billion Muslims worldwide. The scale of the global Halal economy exceeded $7 trillion in 2024 and is projected to reach approximately $10 trillion by 2028.
Establishing Halal standards from production to distribution is becoming an important trend, creating significant opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises. As agricultural products are the main focus of the Halal market, tapping into this market will fundamentally solve the issue of agricultural exports for Vietnam.
Industry Makes a Strong Comeback with Spectacular Growth
In 2024, domestic industrial production for the first 11 months of the year showed an estimated growth of 8.4%, a significant improvement over the 0.9% growth rate in the same period in 2023.
Among the industries, manufacturing and processing recorded a 9.7% increase (compared to 1.0% in the same period last year), contributing 8.5 percentage points to the overall growth and regaining its role as the main driver of economic growth. Industrial production also recovered and grew across the board, with 60 out of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities experiencing growth in their industrial production indexes.
Additionally, in 2024, agricultural, forestry, and fishery production and exports witnessed a breakthrough. The production value grew by over 3.2%, and for the first time, agricultural exports surpassed $60 billion (estimated at $62.7 billion in 2024), an increase of over 18% compared to 2023, with 11 commodities maintaining an export turnover of over $1 billion.
Furthermore, the domestic market grew steadily (nearly 9%). Trade promotion was innovated with the largest-ever series of events, and Vietnam’s country brand value surpassed $500 billion, ranking 32nd in the world.
