Hanoi’s export turnover reached nearly 8 billion USD in 2010, a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent, according to the Hanoi Statistics Office (HSO).

The HSO said the rise was attributed to the fact that the capital city has penetrated major export markets such as EU, the US, Japan, China and ASEAN along with new potential markets such as Africa, Middle East and South Asia.

The city has also focused on potential export items, including agricultural products, garment and textile, electronics, computer components, peripheral devices, glass and handicrafts.

Among the commodities, computer components and peripheral devices earned 1.5 billion USD, up 34.3 percent; garment and textile, 1 billion USD, up 33 percent; and glass and glass products, 300 million USD, up 37.1 percent.

Meanwhile, coffee and pepper contracted 51.5 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.

This year, the city’s import value reached over 21.2 billion USD, an increase of 12 percent over 2009, of which local imports stood at roughly 7.8 billion USD, up 3.8 percent.

Of the import items, plastics saw the sharpest rise of 23.9 percent with 455 million USD, followed by oil and gas with 17.5 percent increase./.