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Trade surplus tops $1.3b in first 7 months

Vietnam: The country's trade surplus in the first 7 months of this year reached US$1.26 billion thanks to a good export performance, the General Statistics Office reported.

The result was due to an improvement in export value which reached $83.5 billion in the first 7 months, up 14.1 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

There were a number of high-valued export staples including marine products with an increase of 25.5 per cent to $4.23 billion, textile and garment industry with a rise of 19.4 per cent to $11.48 billion and phones and accessories manufacturing that showed a growth of 13.9 per cent to $13.15 billion.

Crude oil export value also made up $4.61 billion, up by 5.8 per cent in volume and by 8.3 per cent in turnover.

The GSO stated that the export turnover could reach a higher value if there was no reduction of export value in agricultural products. These included rice exports with 3.86 million tonnes worth $1.75 billion, down 8 per cent in volume and 4.7 per cent in value.

A decrease in rubber exports also contributed to the situation with 454,000 tonnes worth $832 million, down 9.5 per cent in volume and 32 per cent in value.

In the first seven months, the country's import value was $82.24 billion, up 11.4 per cent year-on-year.

The GSO said that the country spent most for imports of raw materials for production such as cotton which increased by 35 per cent to 458,000 tonnes and 36.3 per cent in value to $919 million.

The value of imported machines and spare parts increased by 24.4 per cent to $12.65 billion, and fabric import value reached to $5.5 billion, an increase of 16.7 per cent.

The GSO said that China remained Viet Nam's largest import market with a total turnover of $23.4 billion, an increase of 15.3 per cent compared to the same period last year. The figures brought the trade deficit with China to $14.8 billion, up 14.4 per cent over the same period of 2013.

Most of the imported products from China were textile raw materials, machines and equipment for energy industry, light industry, consuming products and electronic products.

Viet Nam also spent significant values for importing goods from ASEAN and South Korea markets with import turnover of $13.4 billion and $12.3 billion, up 8.4 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively.

Import value from Japan, EU and the US were low range between $3.7 billion and $6.9 billion.