Vietnam saw its export turnover increase 9% year-on-year in the past eight months to an estimated US$106.3 billion, according to the General Statistics Office.
Of the figure, the state contributed $31.7 billion, down 2.5%, while foreign-invested sectors contributed $74.6 billion, up 14.7% year-on-year, reported VGP News, the government’s online newspaper.
Shipments of phones and accessories led overall exports with a value of nearly $20 billion, up 31.1%, followed by garments with $15 billion, up 10.9%. Electronics, computers, and spare parts contributed $9.9 billion, an increase of 51.8%, while footwear exports were valued at $8.1 billion, or 20.9% more than the same period last year.
The U.S. was the largest importing partner of Vietnam for the period, contributing $22.1 billion, a hike of 19.8%. The EU came next with $20.2 billion in imports, up 12.3%, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was third biggest with $12.3 billion, although this was down 3% from the first eight months of last year.
Other key importers of Vietnam products were China with $10.4 billion, up 5.6%; Japan with $9.3 billion for a 4.9% drop, and South Korea contributing $5.1 billion, an expansion of 16.5%.
Meanwhile, total import turnover in the first eight months reached $109.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.4%. Of the figure, the state and foreign-invested sectors contributed $44.7 billion and $65.2 billion, up 7.7% and 23.2%, respectively.
The biggest imported items in value were cars ($3.8 billion, up 80.2%); machines, equipment and tools ($18.9 billion, up 33.4%); electronics, computers, and spare parts ($15.1 billion, up 35.3%); phones and accessories ($7.1 billion, up 36.3%); and fabric ($6.8 billion, up 11%).
China remained the largest exporter to the Southeast Asian economy with $32.7 billion, accounting for 29.8% and up 20.4%. South Korea and ASEAN occupied second and third positions with $18.8 billion and $16 billion, up 34.8% and 5.3%, respectively.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a project to develop regional markets for the period 2015-2020 with an aim to raise export turnover to $300 billion.
The General Statistics Office put the country’s trade deficit in August at an estimated $100 million, raising the total figure to $3.6 billion over the recent eight months, equal to 3.4% of total export turnover.
Of the total, the state sector recorded a trade deficit of $13 billion compared to $9 billion last year, while the foreign-invested sector posted a trade surplus of $9.4 billion for the eight-month period.
Photo: Kelvinsong
