Vietnam has gained a trade surplus of 2.5 billion USD in the first nine months of 2014, a report from the General Statistics Office (GSO) revealed.

This is the eighth consecutive month that the country has achieved a trade surplus. It achieved a 244-million USD trade surplus in February after incurring a 100-million USD trade deficit in January.

Its surplus reached 1 billion USD in the first quarter, 683 million USD in the first four months, 1.6 billion USD in the first five months and 1.3 billion USD in the first half. After seven months, the surplus increased to 1.26 billion USD.

The nation's total exports earned 109.63 billion USD in the first nine months, a 14.2-percent year-on-year increase, and its total imports reached 107.16 billion USD, an 11.1-percent year-on-year increase. The imports mostly consisted of materials and sub-materials for production.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector accounted for the largest proportion of export and import value in the first nine months, with exports worth 73 billion USD, a 14.2-percent year-on-year increase, and imports worth 60.3 billion USD, a 9.8-percent year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile, GSO experts noted signs of recovery in domestic enterprise production, as the enterprises imported more materials and sub-materials.

According to GSO, in the first nine months, domestic enterprises imported 7 billion USD worth of fabrics, a 15.1-percent year-on-year increase; 3.5 billion USD worth of garments and textile accessories, a 25.3-percent year-on-year increase; and 2.3 billion USD worth of plastic materials, a 23.1-percent year-on-year increase.

The United States remained the country's largest export market in the first eight months, accounting for 21 billion USD in exports, or 22.7 percent more than that of the same period last year.

Other significant export markets include the European Union with 20.1 billion USD in exports, or a 13 percent rise from that of last year, and ASEAN with 14 billion USD.

A number of key exports achieved high growth in the first eight months of the year, including textiles and garments with 15.5 billion USD, an 18.9-percent year-on-year rise; telephone and telephone components with 17 billion USD, a 10.1-percent year-on-year rise; and crude oil with 5.78 billion USD, a 9.7-percent year-on-year rise.

The GSO also reported that the largest import market was China with 31.1 billion USD, a 15.6 percent rise from that of the same period last year.-VNA