In August, the country’s imports of petroleum decreased by 5.4 per cent in quantity and 6 per cent in value month – on – month to 775,957 tons worth of $524.54 million. The figure was down by 30.8 per cent in quantity and 11.3 per cent in value compared with the same month of last year.

The average petroleum import price was at $676 per ton in August and $665.4 per ton in the first eight months of this year.

South East Asia was the country’s biggest petroleum import market in the first eight months of this year with 5.12 million tons worth of over $3.28 billion, decreased by 12 per cent in quantity and 16.2 per cent in value compared with the same period last year, and accounted for 60 per cent of the total.

The country’s exports of petroleum from Malaysia in the first eight months of this year reached 2.43 million tons worth of $1.5 billion, increased by 39.7 per cent in quantity and 89.8 per cent in value compared with the same period last year, and accounted for 46 per cent of the total.

Meanwhile, the imports from Singapore reached 1.99 million tons worth of $1.27 billion, down by 40.2 per cent in quantity and 21.7 per cent in value year – on – year; from Thailand – 0.76 million tons worth of $504.45 million, down by 7 per cent in quantity but up by 23.9 per cent in value; China – 895,197 tons, up by 48.5 per cent; Thailand – 619,739 tons, up by 9.2 per cent; Russia – 60,361 tons, up by 144.3 per cent; and Hong Kong (CN) – 102 tons.  

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam’s imports of petroleum from South Korea increased by 12.6 per cent in quantity and 34.9 per cent in value to 2.17 million tons worth of $1.58 billion. The imports of petroleum from China also increased sharply by 47.2 per cent in quantity and 98 per cent in value to 1 million tons worth of $683.28 million.