Vietnam's trade revenue topped USD221.93 billion in the first eight months (Photo: vietnamchemtech.com.vn)
The eight-month trade surplus was totally contributed by the foreign-invested sector, which posted an export surplus of USD15.18 billion, while the domestic sector witnessed a deficit of USD12.73 billion, Le Thi Minh Thuy, Head of GSO, said.
The country's trade revenue topped USD221.93 billion in the period. Of the sum, exports contributed USD112.19 billion, surging 5.5 percent against same period last year.
The above-mentioned growth was, however, equal to two thirds of the target set earlier by the State, Thuy said.
Export revenue of the domestic sector reached USD32.62 billion, up 4 percent year-on-year, while that of the foreign-invested sector stood at USD79.57 billion, up 6.1 percent year-on-year.
Among the key export items witnessing significant turnover increases were mobile phones and components (USD22.3 billion, up 11 percent), garments and textiles (USD15.5 billion, up 4.2 percent), electronics, computers and parts (USD11.1 billion, up 11.2 percent) and footwear (USD8.6 billion, up 8.1 percent).
Meanwhile, several other products witnessed export revenue reductions, including crude oil (some USD1.5 billion, down 46.2 percent), rice (USD1.5 billion, down 14 percent), rubber (USD887 million, down 4 percent) and cassava (USD698 million, down 26 percent).
The US remained the largest importer of Vietnamese goods with revenue of USD24.6 billion. It was followed by the EU with USD21.9 billion, China with USD12.6 billion, Japan with USD9.3 billion and the Republic of Korea with USD7 billion, GSO said.
From January to August, the country's imports saw a yearly modest decline of 0.3 percent to USD109.74 billion. Imports of the foreign-invested sector plunged by 1 percent to USD64.39 billion, while that of the domestic sector experienced a slight increase of 0.5 percent to USD45.35 billion./.