Recently, a lot of news has come out that factories in Southeast Asia have also begun to "lack orders". For this reason, many factories have to shorten production time, stop recruitment and reduce labor. So, what about the data officially reported by Southeast Asian countries?

Vietnam's exports expected to reach US$368 billion

Let's look at Vietnam first. According to statistics from the General Administration of Vietnam Customs, from the beginning of this year to August 15, Vietnam's total import and export volume reached 464.13 billion US dollars, with a trade surplus of 1.39 billion US dollars.

The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Vietnam’s trade surplus of more than US$1 billion has contributed positively to the balance of payments, exchange rate stability and other macroeconomic indicators.

Based on the export results, the Ministry of Industry and Trade predicts that the total export value this year will reach about 368 billion US dollars, an increase of 9.46% over 2021, which is higher than the plans formulated by the Vietnamese government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (8% and 8.1% respectively), and the import value will reach 367 billion US dollars. US dollar, the trade surplus reached 1 billion US dollars, and the established plan was completed.

In the remaining months of 2022, according to the import and export cycle of goods and the increasingly comprehensive and effective implementation of the new generation of free trade agreements, it is expected that the demand for Vietnam's export goods will continue to increase and export activities will continue to pick up.

In 2023, the industry and trade department set a goal of increasing the export value by 8% compared with 2022, maintaining a trade surplus. In addition, efforts are being made to implement a new generation of free trade agreements to help enterprises grasp the content of these agreements, so as to make full use of the preferential policies and opportunities of the agreement.

Regarding Vietnam's economic prospects, the World Bank released a report saying that Vietnam's economy is relatively stable and recovering strongly. In the first half of this year, Vietnam's economy grew by 6.4% year-on-year. This was aided by stabilization in the processing manufacturing sector and a strong recovery in the service sector. Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 7.5% this year and 6.7% in 2023.

Malaysia's trade surplus rises

In addition to Vietnam, Malaysia's economic report card is also very eye-catching. Malaysia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a statement stating that in July this year, Malaysia’s trade volume increased by 39.8% year-on-year to 252.65 billion ringgit, with a strong upward momentum, achieving double-digit growth in trade volume for 18 consecutive months.

Malaysia’s July exports rose 38% year-on-year to RM134.07 billion, the 12th consecutive month of double-digit growth, on the back of continued growth in demand for electrical appliances, petroleum products and LNG, as well as record exports to ASEAN. The trade surplus rose 14.3% to 15.49 billion ringgit, up 41.9% to 118.58 billion ringgit.

In the first seven months, Malaysia's total trade volume increased by 29.9% year-on-year to 1.61 trillion ringgit, export value increased by 27.8% year-on-year to 873.07 billion ringgit, import value increased by 32.5% year-on-year to 734.51 billion ringgit, and trade surplus increased by 7.4% % to 138.56 billion ringgit. Total trade volume, export volume, import volume and trade surplus all hit new highs.

With the gradual recovery of the supply chain, Malaysia's trade is expected to continue to grow steadily this year, driven by the manufacturing industry. In addition, the latest data released by the Department of Statistics of Malaysia shows that the country's GDP in the second quarter of 2022 increased by 8.9% year-on-year, compared with 5.0% in the previous quarter. The economy grew by 6.9% in the first half of this year.

Among them, the service industry grew by 12.0% in the second quarter (Q1 2022: 6.5%), mainly from wholesale and retail (17.3%), transportation and warehousing (35.8%), and catering and accommodation (35.3%) push.

Exports from Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar all increased

Indonesia’s Central Bureau of Statistics recently announced that in July 2022, Indonesia’s exports reached US$25.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32%. China, the United States, and India occupied the top three exports of Indonesia's non-oil and gas products that month.

Indonesian Minister of Industry Agus recently expressed optimism that the performance of Indonesia's textile and garment industry is expected to maintain a good momentum. Indonesia's textile and garment (TPT) industry can actively expand the export market. The export target set in 2022 is 13 billion to 140 million US dollars. One hundred million U.S. dollars.

In the first seven months of this year, Cambodia’s international trade volume reached US$32.82 billion, an increase of 21% compared with the same period in 2021. Among them, the total export value was 13.78 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 30.7%; the total import value was 19.05 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%.

According to Cambodian authorities, products such as clothing, footwear and travel goods account for nearly 50 percent of the country's total exports, with the rest belonging to non-clothing and agricultural products.

China remains Cambodia's largest trading partner. During the period, the bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and China was about 6.9 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of about 15%. Among them, Cambodia's export value to China is about 700 million US dollars, and its import value is about 6.2 billion US dollars.

In addition, the United States remained Cambodia’s largest export market, accounting for 43 percent of the country’s total exports in the first seven months of this year, or $5.69 billion, up 47.3 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese market ranked second with an import value of US$1.32 billion.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce of Myanmar, in the four months from April 1 to August 5, 2022, Myanmar's foreign exports were US$5.851 billion, and imports were US$5.79 billion. Myanmar's foreign trade recorded a trade surplus of US$61.281 million.

Data show that within four months of this fiscal year, the total import and export trade volume was 11.642 billion US dollars, an increase of 2.161 billion US dollars over the same period of the previous fiscal year. During the 6 months of the transition period in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, Myanmar's exports increased and a trade surplus of US$677.226 million was recorded.

It is also worth mentioning that Thailand, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has created a trade value of 169.041 billion US dollars for Thailand after only half a year of implementation, of which Thailand’s exports to 18 countries that have signed 14 free trade agreements 78.172 billion US dollars, an increase of 8.8%, and imports 90.869 billion US dollars.

Thailand's main export commodities include automobiles and spare parts, chemicals, machinery and parts, computers and spare parts. Under the RCEP agreement, about 40,000 kinds of goods in Thailand enjoy zero-tariff treatment for exports, of which 30,000 are effective immediately.