Import-export turnover hits over US$308 billion in eight months

Total export value increased 14.5% year-on-year to US$155.4 billion during the period. Of which, the domestic economic sector achieved a year-on-year surge of 17.4% to US$45.11 billion, while the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector gained US$110.3 billion, an increase of 13.4%.

The FDI sector had lower growth in export value against the domestic sector but it holds 71% of total national export value.

Many key exports gained high growth, such as telephones and parts, up 15.7% to US$30.9 billion; and electronic products, computer and their parts, up 14.2% to US$18.4 billion. 

The export value of garments was estimated at US$19.42 billion, increasing 14.9% compared to the same period last year.
 
Vietnam also saw strong growth for some farming products, including fruits and vegetables (up 14.8% to US$2.7 billion) and rice (up 23.6% to US$2.2 billion).

However, other commodities faced difficulty increasing export value due to falling global prices. Coffee export fell 3.1 percent in value to US$2.5 billion, though they increased 14.8% in volume while rubber fell 12.1% in value to US$1.2 billion despite a 7.9% rise in volume. Pepper exports also dropped 35.7% in value to US$584 million while surging 4.7% in volume.

Crude oil export fell in both volume and value by 46.6% and 24.6%, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the country’s imports rose 11.6 percent year-on-year to US$152.6 million. Of which, the domestic sector’s value reached US$61.85 billion, up 11.8% while the FDI sector stood at US$90.81 billion, up 11.4%.

Imports mainly served production of export products in the FDI sector. The country bought US$26.9 billion of electronic products, computer and parts, up 13.7%; US$9.3 billion for telephone and parts, up 4.3%; and US$8.5 billion for cloth, up 16.1%.

Some others for the domestic production had high growth, including steel (up 10.2% to US$6.7 billion), plastic (up 17.1% to US$5.8 billion), petrol and oil (up 26.4% to US$5.7 billion), metal products (up 35.9% to US$5.3 billion), and chemical products (up 26.3% to US$3.3 billion).

Vietnam’s trade surplus in the first eight months was estimated at more than US$2.75 billion.