According to statistics from the Singapore Enterprise Authority in January 2025, Vietnam has risen to become Singapore’s 9th largest trading partner, with two-way trade turnover of more than SGD 3.39 billion, up 16.83% over the same period in 2024.

Of which, exports from Vietnam to Singapore reached SGD 794 million, up 16.97% and imports from Singapore to Vietnam were about SGD 2.6 billion, up 16.79%.

Thus, Vietnam currently ranks 15th out of 20 largest import partners of Singapore and is Singapore’s 8th largest export market.

In the structure of goods exported from Singapore to Vietnam, goods originating from Singapore reached 759.19 million SGD, up 47.89% and goods from the third country through Singapore exported to Vietnam reached 1.84 billion SGD (accounting for 71%), up 7.46%.

If only calculating the trade balance between Vietnamese goods and goods originating from Singapore, Vietnam had a trade surplus of about 34.8 million SGD.

Regarding the group of export goods from Vietnam to Singapore, in January, all 3 main export groups of Vietnam to Singapore continued to increase very strongly.

Specifically: machinery, equipment, mobile phones, components and spare parts of all kinds (up 46.02%); reactors, boilers, machine tools and equipment and spare parts of the above types of machines (up 47%); glass and glass products (up 58.91%)…

On the contrary, the group of imported goods from Singapore to Vietnam, all 3 main import groups have positive growth: machinery, equipment, mobile phones, components and spare parts of all kinds (up 9.33%); petroleum and petroleum products (up 107.87%) and the group of reactors, boilers, machine tools and equipment and spare parts of the above machines (up 2.75%).

According to Mr. Cao Xuan Thang, Trade Counselor of Vietnam in Singapore, Singapore’s trade situation with the world in the first month of 2025 continues to maintain positive momentum from the last months of 2024 when all indicators of total two-way turnover and export and import turnover have positive growth.

However, assessing the long-term prospects for the whole year of 2025 still has many potential difficulties. In its report dated February 14, 2025, the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) maintained its official GDP growth forecast for the entire year of 2025 at 1% to 3%. The wide forecast range shows that MTI assesses that 2025 will still be unstable with risks that could negatively impact the investment, trade and global supply chain shift situation.

In that context, Mr. Thang said that the import-export turnover between Vietnam and Singapore in January is still maintaining a very good positive growth momentum with all three turnover indicators increasing strongly, making Vietnam the 9th largest trading partner of Singapore. Vietnam has risen to become the 15th largest export partner to Singapore and the 8th largest import partner of Singapore.

To continue to maintain growth momentum, the Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Singapore said that industry associations and businesses need to closely monitor developments in the area, especially new policies and regulations on product quality standards. On the other hand, innovate management methods and digital transformation in businesses to reduce production costs and increase competitiveness; strengthen trade promotion activities, participate in displaying goods at international fairs and exhibitions to increase the presence of Vietnamese goods, promote products, and promote Vietnamese brands to local consumers.