Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Myanmar hit 227 million USD in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 35.9 percent, according to the General Department of Customs.
In 2012, Vietnam shipped 117.8 million USD worth of commodities to Myanmar , up 42.9 percent compared to 2011.
With this result, the country enjoyed a trade surplus of more than 8 million USD with Myanmar for the first time over the past decade, the department says.
Although this trade surplus is still low, in comparison with the deficit in previous years, it can be considered a positive progress in the two countries bilateral trade.
The potential of trade exchange between the two countries is great as Vietnamese exports to Myanmar account for only 0.7 percent of its total exports to all ASEAN member countries.
Over the past decade, two way trade between the two countries also grew by 24.8 percent on average.
In January 2013, Vietnam exports to Myanmar earned 13.7 million USD, up by 1.8 percent over the previous month. Vietnam ’s major export items were steel products, machinery and equipment, garments and plastics, while main imports from Myanmar were wood, rubber and copper.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese imports in the first month of the year fell by 45.6 percent to 3.6 million USD due to a sharp reduction in wood imports.-VNA
