Business News

Việt Nam’s seafood exports in 2025 were a record US$11.3 billion, but experts said the industry needs long-term strategies to ensure sustainable growth. They were speaking at a conference held by the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) in HCM City on February 17 to review the industry’s performance and set tasks for the new year.

Trade in fruits and vegetables between Vietnam and the U.S. exceeded US$1 billion for the first time in 2025, reaching nearly US$1.5 billion, according to Vietnam Customs. The figure marks an 8.5-fold increase over the past decade, rising from US$170 million in 2016 to about US$1.47 billion last year. Vietnam exported US$547 million worth of fruits and vegetables to the U.S. last year, up 52% from 2024.

Vietnam and Singapore recorded a strong rebound in bilateral trade in 2025, with both exports and imports rising in every month from a year earlier, according to data from Enterprise Singapore and the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore. In December alone, two-way trade reached nearly S$4 billion (about US$3.1 billion), up 30.1% year-on-year. Singapore’s exports to Vietnam totaled S$2.3 billion, up 1.5%, while imports from Vietnam surged 113.6% to S$1.7 billion.

Vietnam exported more than 8.06 million tons of rice in 2025, earning over US$4.1 billion, down 10.8% in volume and 27.6% in value from 2024, the Department of Vietnam Customs said. The sharper fall in export value reflected a decline in global rice prices over the past year, reported the Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam’s 5% broken rice was offered at US$360–365 per ton last week.

Vietnam’s cashew exports rebounded strongly in the final month of 2025, pushing full-year export revenue past the US$5-billion mark for the first time, with China overtaking the U.S. as the country’s biggest buyer. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment showed that cashew has become Vietnam’s fourth agricultural product, after fruit and vegetables, coffee and rice, to generate more than US$5 billion in export value in a single year.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), total investment capital attracted in 2025, including newly approved projects and capital revisions, exceeded US$5.4 billion, up 2.66% year-on-year and surpassing the annual target by 19.46%. Demand for production space surged alongside this growth: leased land reached 475.13 hectares, up more than 71%, while leased factory space exceeded 620,600 square meters, more than 4.5 times higher than a year earlier.

Vietnam’s outbound investment surged 88.7% from a year earlier to US$1.36 billion last year, according to data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Finance. The total includes newly licensed capital and additional funding for existing projects, marking the sharpest increase after several years of relatively slow growth.

The Netherlands remained Vietnam’s largest trade surplus market in Europe in 2025, with Vietnam posting a surplus of US$12.7 billion, while also retaining its status as Vietnam’s biggest trading partner in the European Union for the second consecutive year. Total bilateral trade between Vietnam and the Netherlands amounted to US$14.3 billion in 2025, up 3.8% from 2024, reported the Vietnam News Agency, citing data from the Vietnam Trade Office in the Netherlands.