The southern province of Binh Duong earned 29.94 billion USD from exports in the first two months of this year, up 12.5 percent against the same period last year, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

Of the figure, domestic enterprises contributed 343.6 million USD, a 13.5 percent rise, while that of the foreign-invested sector was 1.75 billion USD, an increase of 12.3 percent.

However, the province saw a sharp month-on-month drop of 24.7 percent in February’s exports, reaching only 899.6 million USD due to the long Lunar New Year festival.

During the month, the domestic sector experienced a 19.1 percent decrease at 153.6 million USD, while FDI firms suffered a drop of 25.7 percent to earn only 745.9 million USD.

In February total export revenue, wooden products made up 14.4 percent, reaching 129.2 million USD, down 16.2 percent over the previous month. Meanwhile, the province earned 148.7 million USD from garment and textile exports, decreasing by 12.9 percent.

The footwear sector reported a decline of 15.2 percent at 77.7 percent. However, it still made up 8.6 percent of the province’s total export revenue in the month.

This year, thanks to the General System of Preferences (GSP) applied in the EU market, Vietnamese footwear firms have enjoyed a tax cut down to 3-4 percent compared to the previous level of 13-14 percent, making them more competitive in the market.

At the same time, Binh Duong’s import revenue in February was also estimated to decrease sharply by 28.3 percent at 733.6 million USD. The result pushed the total imports in the first two months to 1.757 billion USD, up 12.1 percent over the same period last year.-VNA