Vietnam has become the biggest exporter to the United States in the Southeast Asian region with a record trade surplus of almost 25 billion USD in 2014, surpassing even Malaysia and Thailand.

The two-way trade reached 36.3 billion USD, of which Vietnam exported 30.6 billion USD worth of goods to the US in 2014 while its imports were only 5.7 billion USD, the US Census Bureau data showed.

These figures represented increases of 24 percent in export and 13.6 percent in import compared with the previous year.

Ending 2014, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 24.9 billion USD with the US, the highest-ever value since the two countries normalised relations.

Export of garment and textile was the main contributor in the Vietnam's success with the export value of nearly 10 billion USD, accounting for one-third of the country's total export value. Vietnamese textile also raised its market share in the US to 9.26 percent.

This result is also higher than the previous forecast of a trade surplus of 23.9 billion USD by the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham). Last October, AmCham forecast Vietnam-US two-way trade revenue would likely reach 34.9 billion USD in 2014, including 29.4 billion USD from Vietnam's exports to the US.

The United States' reported statistics are also larger than the figures released by the Vietnam's General Department of Customs. According to the customs department, Vietnam shipped nearly 28.7 billion USD worth of goods to the US and imported 6.3 billion USD from this country, registering a trade surplus of 22.4 billion USD.-VNA