Vietnam's trade surplus in the first 11 months of 2014 has reached 2 billion USD, a 100-million USD increase over the surplus recorded in the first ten months of the year.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) made the announcement and predicted that Vietnam would finish 2014 with a trade surplus and a large contribution from the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector.

GSO figures showed that the country's export revenues reached 137.33 billion USD, a 13.7-percent year-on-year increase, and 67 percent came from the FDI sector, including crude oil. The FDI sector's exports increased by 13 percent year-on-year.

Leading exports include garments and textiles, with a turnover of 19.183 billion USD, an 18.2-percent increase; phones and components, 21.681 billion USD, an 8.3-percent increase; footwear products, 9.181 billion USD, a 23-percent increase; and computers and electronic components, 10.259 billion USD, a five-percent increase.

Products with rapid export growth this year include seafood, which increased by 20.2 percent to reach 7.272 billion USD; fruits and vegetables, by 39.6 percent to 1.35 billion USD; and coffee, by 34.3 percent to 3.31 billion USD.

However, several traditional exports witnessed declines in either volume or value or both. Coal fell by 1.8 percent in volume to 6.812 million tonnes and 37.9 percent in value to 506 million USD. Rubber reached 1.634 billion USD, a 26.2-percent decline, because of the sharp fall in world prices.

The United States was the country's leading importer, with an export value in the first 11 months of this year reaching 26.2 billion USD, a 21.3-percent increase.

The country's import value reached nearly 135 billion USD, a 12.6-percent year-on-year increase, with the FDI sector accounting for more than 56.8 percent.

Vietnam mainly imported raw materials for production such as fabrics, plastics, machines and equipment.

Worth considering is Vietnam's trade deficit with China which, in the first 11 months of this year, reached 26.4 billion USD, a 22.1-percent year-on-year increase and nearly one-fifth of the country's total import turnover.

Vietnam's imports from China reached 40 billion USD or nearly 30 percent of the country's export turnover. This high rate is a serious concern, according to the GSO.-VNA