HCM City: Exports pick up 6 percent in eight months

Hanoi (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s exports in the first eight months of 2018 hit 24.6 billion USD, an increase of 6 percent from the same period last year, reported the municipal Department of Industry and Trade on September 4.

The city’s imports were valued at 30.68 billion USD, up 9.6 percent year-on-year, the department said.

The industry sector remained the biggest contributor to the export revenue. Exports of computers, electronics and parts led all items to reach 6.07 billion USD, up 12.8 percent year-on-year and accounting for 24.6 percent of the total exports.

It was followed by shipments of textile and garment which were worth 3.77 billion USD, up 5.4 percent and making up 18.1 percent of the total.

Exports of machinery, tools and spare parts stood at 1.53 billion USD, up 4.9 percent.
Footwear was the only key item of the sector experiencing a decline of 2 percent to 1.7 billion USD in export value.

Meanwhile, agro-forestry-fishery products also fell by 0.3 percent year-on-year to 3.47 billion USD, largely due to drops in prices of key hard currency earners such as coffee and rubber.

Rubber export turnover plunged 24.9 percent as its price slid 21.3 percent while price of coffee slumped 14.2 percent, causing its export value to drop by 3.1 percent.

The department’s Deputy Director Nguyen Phuong Dong forecast the exports of industrial as well as agro-forestry-fishery products will be on the rise in the final quarter of the year owing to higher demand for New Year holidays and the recovery of the US dollar.

However, many foreign markets have raised their trade barriers and adopted stricter rules on food safety and environmental protection standards, making the biggest challenge to Vietnam’s exports, he said.-VNA