Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)
Trade between Vietnam and Singapore grew strongly in the first nine months of 2026, with two-way turnover reaching nearly 42.8 billion SGD (33.4 billion USD), up 46.8% year on year.
The growth exceeded Singapore’s overall foreign trade increase of 36.9%. Vietnam remained Singapore’s 10th-largest trading partner, with its share of Singapore’s total trade rising from 2.9% to 3.1%.
Singapore’s imports from Vietnam surged 123.2% to 19.4 billion SGD, more than three times the 35.7% growth in its overall imports. Vietnam’s share of Singapore’s total imports consequently rose from 1.8% to 3%.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s exports to Vietnam increased 14.3% to 23.4 billion SGD. Of this, domestically produced goods accounted for 6.4 billion SGD, up 15.1%, while re-exports reached nearly 17 billion SGD, up 14%.
The strong momentum continued in September, when bilateral trade rose 61.6% year on year to nearly 5.2 billion SGD. Singapore’s exports to Vietnam reached nearly 3 billion SGD, up 35.6%, while imports from Vietnam exceeded 2.2 billion SGD, an increase of 115.9%.
Including re-exports, Singapore recorded a trade surplus of 4 billion SGD with Vietnam during the nine-month period, according to Singapore’s figures. However, when only domestically produced Singaporean goods are counted, Singapore recorded a trade deficit of 12.9 billion SGD.
The figures indicate that Vietnam is becoming an increasingly important source of goods for Singapore’s distribution and re-export networks, rather than simply a market for goods shipped through the city-state.
Data from Enterprise Singapore showed that electrical machinery, equipment and parts (HS 85), together with mineral fuels, oils and related products (HS 27), remained Singapore’s two largest export categories to Vietnam. Combined exports in these categories exceeded 15.1 billion SGD, accounting for 64.6% of Singapore’s total exports to Vietnam.
On the import side, HS 85 products also remained Singapore’s largest import category from Vietnam, reaching 9.5 billion SGD, up 118.8% and accounting for 49.2% of total imports from Vietnam.
The Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore attributed the growth partly to the Singapore’s investment cycle in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, which is boosting electronics production, exports and re-exports while increasing demand for machinery, equipment and components from regional manufacturing centres, including Vietnam.
Rising Singaporean imports of HS 84 and HS 85 products from Vietnam highlight the country’s growing role in regional electronics and technology supply chains, complementing Vietnam’s manufacturing and assembly capacity with Singapore’s strengths in distribution, re-exports, finance and logistics.
VNA
