Trade between Russia and Vietnam is growing robustly, according to Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development in its announcement on November 2.

The Ministry reported that in the first eight months of 2012, two-way trade turnover exceeded 2.5 billion USD, a year-on-year soar of 49.7 percent.

The figure included Russia ’s exports to Vietnam of 1.079 billion USD, up 63.8 percent from the same period last year, and its imports of 1,439 billion USD, up 40.6 percent.

Russia ’s main export lines are machinery and equipment, chemical products, metal and metal products, and mineral water.

The country’s key imports are also machinery and equipment and chemical products, along with apparels, footwear, and farm products.

In 2011, trade between the two countries hit 3.061 billion USD, marking a year-on-year increase of 25.2 percent. Of the total, 1.338 billion USD came from Russia ’s exports.

Last year, Vietnam ranked 37th among Russia’s foreign traders.-VNA