Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s export revenue racked up a 4 percent year-on-year increase during January – September to 202.4 billion USD in the context that the COVID-19 pandemic has weighed on the international trade, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The domestic sector remained a driver of export growth, as it earned 71.4 billion USD from shipments abroad, rising 19.5 percent from the same time last year.

Implementation of a wide range of free trade agreements (FTAs) served as a booster for Vietnamese exports.

The MoIT said as of the end of Quarter 3, 30 commodities had posted export revenue of more than 1 billion USD. Together they accounted for 91.3 percent of the total export value of the country.

Goods with great contributions to the export revenue included computers, electronic products and parts (32.2 billion USD, up 25.9 ⛦percent), wood and wooden products (8.5 billion USD, up 12.4 percent), and equipment and machines (18.2 billion USD, up 39.8 percent).

Vietnam officially implemented the Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) from the beginning of August. The implementation has seen positive results. In the first month after the EVFTA took effect, exports to the EU rose 4.65 percent against July to 3.25 billion USD. The export revenue continued its momentum in September, surging 14.4 percent year-on-year. Orders from the EU for Vietnamese seafood rose 10 percent month on month in August, and the export value of those products to this market picked up 1.7 percent from thte same period last year.

Many other products such as mobile phones, machines, spare parts, garments and textiles, seafood and coffee were also expected to see an increase in export turnover in the European market.

In addition, the country also recorded high💃 growth in export revenue in key markets, including the US (54.73 billion USD, rising 22.6 percent) and China (31.75 billion USD, increasing 12.4 percent).

“Implementation of FTAs helps Vietnam promote sustainable exports while avoiding heavy dependence on a single or several markets. To date, Vietnam has carried out 13 FTAs with more than 50 markets, including most of the world’s top economies”, Director of the MoIT’s Foreign Trade Agency Phan Van Chinh said. In contrasts, imports declined 0.8 percent year-on-year in the first nine months to 185.87 billion USD, including 82.3 billion USD imported by the domestic sector (up 4.7 percent) and 103.5 billion USD by the foreign-invested sector (down 4.8 percent).

As a result, the country posted a trade surplus of nearly 16.9 billion USD in January-September, compared to a surplus of 7.27 billion USD in the same period last year.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung, the ministry will enhance communication work to raise public awareness of local firms and people of commitments on trade, services and tax exemption or reduction under the EVFTA.

Meanwhile, deputy head of the MoIT’s Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu said trade promotion activities will be reformed to support exports, adding his agency is penning trade promotion plans for the 2020-2025 period to develop sustainable exports while carrying out free trade pacts like EVFTA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as well as work to choose potential commodities for markets signing FTAs with Vietnam.

The agency will apply online tools to maintain markets and relations with partners, as well as support local firms to seek partners for their agricultural products and essential products serving pandemic prevention.

In the meantime, the Foreign Trade Agency and the Vietnam e-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency developed 𒐪a software to provide level-3 public service for 24 administrative procedures, aiming to create the best conditions for exporters./.