Vietnam racks up nearly 685 million USD in trade surplus

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 684.6 million USD from mid-January to mid-February with export turnover of more than 17.03 billion USD and import value of over 16.3 billion USD, according to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Outstanding exports were recorded in garments; footwear; computers, electronic products and their spare parts; telephones and spare parts from the outset of the year to February 15 with 2.6 billion USD, 1.45 billion USD, 1.63 billion USD and 3.03 billion USD, respectively. Meanwhile, imports of input materials remained high.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector recorded high import-export values. During the period, FDI enterprises exported 11.67 billion USD worth of products and spent 9.7 billion USD on imports. The sector saw a trade surplus of nearly 2 billion USD.

In January, the country’s exports reached 13.3 billion USD. Imports were estimated at 12.59 billion USD. FDI enterprises reaped 9 billion USD from exports, down 0.9 percent against the same month last year, while splashing out nearly 7.2 billion USD on purchasing materials, dropping 13 percent from last January.

Exports of agricultural products saw strong growth during the month. The country earned 216.6 million USD from shipping rice to foreign countries, rising 45.3 percent from the same period last year. Vegetable and fruit increased 46.5 percent to 199.4 million USD.

In stark contrast, exports fell for coal (84.8 percent), crude oil (61.9 percent) and material plastic (49.4 percent).

By mid-January, the country reported a 217-million-USD trade deficit. Total import-export revenues were calculated at 12.11 billion USD, 7.63 billion USD of which was contributed by the FDI sector.

Exports during the period picked up 3.6 percent from the same period last year to 5.95 billion USD, thanks to a surge in shipments of garments, equipment, vegetables, footwear and rice.-VNA