Trade surplus hits record in 10 months

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s exports rose 4.7 percent year-on-year in the first ten months of this year to 229.27 billion USD, for a trade surplus of a record 18.72 billion USD, the General Statistics Office announced on October 29.

In October alone, export value was estimated at 26.7 billion USD, down 1.7 percent month-on-month but up 9.9 percent year-on-year.

During the 10-month period, 31 goods earned over 1 billion USD each from exports, accounting for 91.8 percent of the total. Five brought home more than 10 billion USD each, or 59.9 percent.

Heavy industry and mining raked in 123.8 billion USD, up 8.4 percent year-on-year. Light industry and handicrafts, meanwhile, reported revenue of 81.8 billion USD, up 1.5 percent; agro-forestry 16.8 billion USD, down 1.5 percent; and fisheries 6.9 billion USD, down 2.5 percent.

The US remained the largest importer of Vietnamese goods in ten months, with turnover of 62.3 billion USD, up 24 percent year-on-year. It was followed by China, with 37.6 billion USD, up 14 percent; the EU 28.9 billion USD, down 3 percent, ASEAN 18.9 billion USD, down 11.6 percent; the Republic of Korea (RoK) 16.3 billion USD, down 2.6 percent; and Japan 15.6 billion USD, down 7 percent.

Total imports in October were estimated at 24.5 billion USD, up 1.2 percent month-on-month and 10.1 percent year-on-year. Ten-month imports totalled 210.55 billion USD, up 0.4 percent year-on-year.

As many as 34 types of goods saw import turnover exceeding 1 billion USD, accounting for 89.4 percent of the total.

China remained Vietnam’s largest import source, with revenue standing at 65.8 billion USD, an increase of 6.2 percent against the same period last year. It was followed by the Republic of Korea (RoK), with 37.4 billion USD, down 5.3 percent; ASEAN 24.4 billion USD, down 8.5 percent; Japan 16.5 billion USD, up 2.5 percent; the EU 11.8 billion USD, up 4.2 percent; and the US 11.6 billion USD, down 2.4 percent./.