Notably, while Singapore’s exports to Vietnam rose 13.6 per cent to SGD 3 billion, imports from Vietnam surged 100.5 per cent to SGD 1.6 billion. The sharp increase in Vietnamese shipments is seen as a positive sign in narrowing the trade gap and points to strong prospects for further growth in exports to the Singaporean market this year.
Statistics from Enterprise Singapore show that the city state posted a trade surplus of nearly SGD 1.4 billion with Vietnam in January 2026, though this represented a 24.6 per cent decline compared with the same month in 2025. Of the total, its domestically produced exports to Vietnam amounted to SGD 710.5 million, down 6.4 per cent, while re-exports reached SGD 2.2 billion, up 21.8 per cent.
Electrical machinery, equipment and parts (HS 85), and mineral fuels, oils and distillation products, bituminous substances and mineral waxes (HS 27), remained the largest export categories to Vietnam, with combined shipments worth SGD 2.2 billion, accounting for 76.2 per cent of Singapore’s total exports to the country last month.
However, the structures of these exports differ markedly. Electrical machinery, equipment and parts (HS 85) consisted predominantly of re-exports, making up 94.3 per cent of the category’s value. By contrast, mineral fuels and related products (HS 27) were overwhelmingly domestically produced, with a localisation rate of 99.5 per cent.
Other notable export groups to Vietnam in January included nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, mechanical equipment and parts (HS 84), valued at SGD 166.9 million, up 23.9 per cent; plastics and plastic products (HS 39), at SGD 72 million, down 11.6 per cent; and essential oils, perfumes, cosmetics and toilet preparations (HS 33), at SGD 57.4 million, up 35.6 per cent.
On the import side, electrical machinery and equipment (HS 85) continued to record the highest value among goods sourced from Vietnam, at more than SGD 657.8 million, a rise of 76.5 per cent year on year, accounting for 41.4 per cent of total imports from the country. This was followed by machinery and mechanical appliances (HS 84), which soared 333.8 per cent to SGD 641.6 million, and glass and glassware (HS 70), at SGD 77.2 million, down 6.2 per cent
Other categories included mineral fuels and related products (HS 27), at SGD 43.7 million, up 385.1 per cent; salt, sulphur, earths and stone, plastering materials, lime and cement (HS 25), at SGD 15.1 million, up 54.4 per cent; optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring and medical or surgical instruments and parts (HS 90), at SGD 9.5 million, up 23.7 per cent.
Cao Xuan Thang, Vietnam's Trade Counsellor in Singapore, stated that as 2026 is the first year of implementing the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2026-2030, the Vietnam Trade Office will closely follow domestic action plans and directives to implement tasks from the outset of the year.
