Vietnam exported almost 249 million USD worth of commodities to Italy in January, an annual increase of 36.39 percent, according to the Information Centre under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Major exports included phones and phone components, footwear, and coffee, growing between 14 and 66 percent from January last year.

Trade between Vietnam and Italy has increased steadily by 25-30 percent annually, hitting 3.6 billion USD in 2014.

The figure is expected to reach 5 billion USD in 2016, as the southern European nation is now an important export market for Vietnam.-VNA