Vietnam raked in some 58.51 billion USD from its exports in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year hike of 15.4 percent, making this year’s export target feasible, said Phan Van Chinh, Director of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade on June 2.

Domestic firms brought home 19.05 billion USD from their exports, while 36.39 billion USD was contributed by foreign-invested enterprises, a surge of 18.6 percent from the same period last year.

In May alone, the export turnover rose by 3.5 percent from the same month last year to 12 billion USD. The proportion of fossil fuels and minerals in the total exports reduced, while industrially-processed and agro-aquatic exports climbed. This trend is closely aligned to the national export strategy.

Notably, two-way trade between Vietnam and China soared in the reviewed period. Vietnamese products shipped to the market totalled about 6.1 billion USD in value, or 10.5 percent of the total export figure, while the country spent around 16.1 billion USD purchasing imports from China.

In addition to boosting exports to its traditional markets, including ASEAN, the EU, Japan and the US, Vietnam continues to diversify its exports and is maintaining effort in seeking new importers in Africa and the Middle East, said Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai.

This week, the ministry will discuss measures to further boost agro-aquatic exports through expanding markets for these products and reduce the fluctuation in prices for farmers.-VNA