Of five key export items, the export value of crude oil hit more than US$3 billion, followed by garments (nearly US$2.7 billion) and footwear, seafood and coffee (more than US$1 billion). Other important products have achieved high growth rates and are expected to surpass the US$1 billion mark in terms of export value next month, such as wood products (US$947 million), computers and electronic spare parts (US$744 million). Rice has not achieved an impressive growth rate as expected but its export value still reached US$610 million. The rubber industry’s growth rate is lower than the same period last year, however, it still yielded US$415 million from exports and its target for US$1 billion in export value can still be fulfilled ahead of schedule.
According to some economic experts, export growth in the past five months was still lower than the 24.2 percent level recorded in the same period last year. Meanwhile, import value reached US$21.37 billion, up 26 percent over the same period last year. Imported items include machines, automobile spare parts, equipment, and components, finished steel, cotton, textiles and garment materials. The import surplus of the first five months was nearly US$3.3 billion. Experts suggest that managers and businesses make a greater effort to keep trade balanced.
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