At a meeting in Hanoi on October 26, Bien announced that the nation’s export turnover fetched US$57.8 billion in the first 10 months of the year, an increase of 23.3 percent over the same period last year (far surpassing the National Assembly-set target of 6 percent).

In the reviewed period, the country earned almost US$12 billion from exporting seafood and farm produce, an 18 percent year-on-year increase. Rubber, cashew nuts and pepper were staples recording the highest growths in export volume and value.

Steel, chemicals and rubber products led the processing industries that grossed more than US$39.4 billion.

The proportions of hi-tech and industrial manufacturing products in the country’s export goods increased while that of raw exports reduced.

The head of the ministry’s import-export department Phan Van Chinh said the production scale and technologies for a number of businesses remained small and backward, so they were not able to meet the demand of big contracts and their goods’ competitiveness was low.

Positive signs can also be seen in imports. Although trade deficit was recorded continuously in the first eight months of the year, the trend has been reversed since September with an export growth of 23.3 percent, compared to the 20.7 percent import growth, for the 10-month period.

Accordingly, the trade deficit rate has fallen from 23.4 percent for the first four months of the year to 16.45 percent for the past 10 months.

Chinh also forecast that import values would not increase sharply in the remaining two months of the year and night to stand at US$82.5 billion this year, a year-on-year increase of 17.9 percent and trade deficit at around US$12.5 billion.