Despite Brasil’s import being reduced under the influence of the global financial crisis, Vietnam ’s exports to the country in the first half of 2009 topped 80 million USD, a year-on-year increase of 5.72 percent.

Vietnam ’s main export staples to the Latin American country are footwear, fibre, printers, rubber, bags and bicycle tyres, according to Brasil’s Ministry for Development, Industry and Trade.

Brasil’s exports, mainly of corn, by-products made of soybean oil, beef, chicken and chicken by-products, wood powder, timber, cigarette materials, cotton, soybean oil and cowhide, to Vietnam shrank by 14.4 percent to nearly 172 million USD.

Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Brasil in the first six months of this year slid by 8.9 percent to close to 252 million USD compared to the corresponding period of 2008.

In 2008, the two-way trade hit nearly 534.6 million USD, a year-on-year rise of 65.3 percent from 2007./.