China's bilateral trade with Vietnam in the first 11 months of 2024 amounted to 167.37 billion yuan, 15.3 percent higher than in the same period of 2023, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC). Also, according to the latest forecast of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam-China bilateral trade will account for nearly one-third of the country's total trade in 2024. analyze that multi-bilateral cooperation agreements and policy dividends such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 are providing more opportunities for China and Vietnam to deepen economic and trade cooperation.
China is Vietnam's top trading partner and Vietnam is China's top trading partner in ASEAN. In the first 11 months of 2024, the turnover of Vietnam's exports of fruits, vegetables and aquatic products to China reached US$4.1 billion and US$1.4 billion respectively, up 28.7% and 23.2% over the same period in 2023, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs. The latest data cited by VietnamNet showed that China is now Vietnam's top export market for fruits and vegetables, accounting for 65.2 percent of the country's total fruits and vegetables exports.
In Vietnam's Lang Son Friendship International Port, which is far away from China's Pingxiang Friendship Pass, more than 1,000 large trucks loaded with commodities from both countries clear customs here every day, and more than 1,000 jobs are involved in customs clearance and goods transshipment in the port area. In recent years, the Vietnamese government has introduced preferential policies, simplified approval procedures, tax exemptions and fee reductions to provide more support for Vietnamese enterprises engaged in border trade.
Vietnam is committed to building international port economic demonstration zones to expand new platforms for developing trade with China. The Dong Dang Port Economic Zone under construction in Lang Son Province has a land area of 144 hectares and plans to build an international cargo storage center, a super-large cold-chain warehouse, a container yard and other important facilities, which can park 1,500 trucks at the same time after completion and will greatly enhance the capacity of transshipment and storage of fresh goods such as agriculture, forestry, fishery and fishery products. Lyu Minh Anh, deputy director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Lang Son Province, said that Lang Son Province alone has 12 international ports connected to China, and the province is accelerating the construction of land-linked infrastructure and supporting industries, so that the international port economic demonstration zones will help the two countries to deepen the development of economic and trade cooperation.
At present, road transportation is still the main way of exporting Vietnam's agricultural products to China, especially in the harvest season of agricultural products, truck transportation is busier. According to Vietnam's People's Daily, the daily volume of truck traffic in Lang Son Province was about 1,300 vehicles in 2024, up 18.2 percent year-on-year. Most of the agricultural products such as lychee, durian, dragon fruit and tapioca produced across Vietnam are sold to the Chinese market via this route. To improve land transportation conditions, Vietnam has upgraded a number of traffic arteries connected to China-Vietnam border crossings. A number of highway projects connecting Lang Son to Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh provinces and some national highway reconstruction and expansion projects are being implemented intensively, which will greatly improve the efficiency of highway transportation upon completion.
At present, China and Vietnam are accelerating transportation infrastructure connectivity. The two sides have announced that they will cooperate in building three standard-gauge railroads in Lang Son - Hanoi, Lao Cai - Hanoi - Haiphong, and Mang Cai - Ha Long - Haiphong. The railroad project is expected to start at the end of 2025 and be completed at the end of 2030, said Prime Minister Pham Minh Thanh in Vietnam's Lao Cai province during a recent inspection of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railroad project. Pham Minh Thanh emphasized that the design of train running speed and gauge should ensure that the railroad can be docked smoothly with the Chinese railroad, and close cooperation should be maintained with the Chinese side during the design and construction of the project.
China and Vietnam have strong economic complementarities. Vietnam will identify China as the key export market for the country's agricultural, forestry and fishery products, and imports of steel, fabric fibers, electronics, etc. from China provide important support for the development of Vietnam's manufacturing sector and stabilize the supply chain. Le Quoc Phuong, former deputy director of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade's Industry and Trade Center, said that many Chinese products are of good quality and competitive. Vietnam and China have the geographical advantage of being connected by land routes, and with the increasing demand of the Vietnamese market, there is much room for growth in trade and investment between the two countries.
