Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 20.19 billion USD in the first eight months of this year, according to data released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) on August 29.
In the period, the total import-export turnover of goods hit 435.23 billion USD, posting a year-over-year decrease of 13.1%. Specifically, export value hit 227.7 billion USD, a fall of 10% year on year and import value was down by 16.2% to 207.52 billion USD.
In August only, the country's total trade hit 60.92 billion, marking an increase of 6.7% compared to the previous month and a decline of 7.9% compared to the same period last year.
In eight months, 30 items posted export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 91.8% of the country's total export turnover. Particularly, five commodities posted an export turnover of more than 10 billion USD, accounting for 58.4%.
The US was Vietnam's largest export market with an estimated turnover of 62.3 billion USD, while China was Vietnam's largest import market with 68.1 billion USD.
To further improve the efficiency of imports and exports, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has planned to focus measures such as promoting innovation and strengthening trade promotion activities towards new and potential markets like India, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Eastern Europe and those less affected by inflation and posting positive growth like ASEAN./.