Vietnam-Czech trade enjoys 14 percent growth in H1

Prague (VNA) - Bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and the Czech Republic in the first half of 2018 recorded an expansion of nearly 14 percent compared to the same period last year, marking a successively stable growth rate of over 10 percent per year since 2015.

Vietnam’s Commercial Affairs office in the Czech Republic, cited the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office, showing that the export-import turnover between the two countries reached 551.4 million USD in the first two quarters of the year, a 13.8 percent increase year-on-year.

The Czech Republic imported goods worth 74.9 million USD from Vietnam in June, a year-on-year rise of 14.2 percent, lifting its total import turnover of the first six months to 503.7 million USD.

Meanwhile, the European nation’s exports to Vietnam during the January-June period were valued at 47.6 million USD, up 10.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

Vietnam’s key exports to the Czech Republic during the period included electronics, audiovisual equipment, footwear, rubber, leather products, clothes, mechanical equipment, wood furniture, farm produce, handicrafts, and plastic products.

Of which, electronics earned the highest revenue with nearly 170 million USD, followed by footwear with 122.1 million USD.

At the same time, Vietnam imported from the Czech Republic energy furnaces, boilers, and mechanical equipment; video recording equipment; plastic products; military equipment; seeds; pharmaceuticals and medicinal plants; and industrial tree varieties.

In 2017, two-way trade between the two countries exceeded 1 billion USD for the first time, a rise of 12 percent year-on-year.

However, the figure remained modest compared to the economic potential and real demand of both markets.

Bilateral trade is forecast to hit over 1 billion USD again in 2018, thus creating momentum for promoting investment cooperation between the two sides’ enterprises, especially in the sphere of high technology, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. –VNA