A tea processing factory in Thanh Son district of Phu Tho province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam maintained its upwards trend in exports at a time when COVID-19 has ravaged international trade, with year-on-year growth of 4.2 percent posted in the first nine months of 2020, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
At a press conference in Hanoi on September 29, GSO General Director Nguyen Thi Huong said total trade revenue reached 388.73 billion USD between January and September, up 1.8 percent year-on-year.
Exports were estimated at 202.86 billion USD, up 4.2 percent.
The domestic sector remained a driver of export growth, as it earned 71.8 billion USD from shipments, up 20.2 percent and accounting for 35.4 percent of total exports. Meanwhile, the foreign-invested sector raked in 131 billion USD, including crude oil sales, down 2.9 percent and making up 64.6 percent of the total.
Thirty commodities posted export revenue of more than 1 billion USD, accounting for 91.3 percent of total exports. Five saw over 10 billion USD in turnover each, accounting for 59.8 percent, the GSO reported.
Meanwhile, imports declined 0.8 percent year-on-year in the first nine months to 185.87 billion USD, including 82.3 billion USD imported by the domestic sector (up 4.7 percent) and 103.5 billion USD by the foreign-invested sector (down 4.8 percent).
Thirty-two commodities posted over 1 billion USD in import value each, or 88.3 percent of total imports.
The country posted a trade surplus of 16.9 billion USD in January-September, compared to a surplus of 7.27 billion USD in the same period last year, with domestic businesses posting a deficit of 10.52 billion USD and foreign-invested enterprises a surplus of 27.5 billion USD (including crude oil).
In September alone, exports declined 0.7 percent month-on-month to 27.5 billion USD while imports increased 5.6 percent to 24 billion USD, for a surplus of 3.5 billion USD.
The figures rose 11 percent and 3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, to 80 billion USD and 68.5 billion USD, respectively./.
VNA
