HCM City: Exports pick up 6 percent in eight months
Ho Chi Minh City’s exports in the first eight months of 2018 hit 24.6 billion USD, an increase of 6 percent from the same period last year, reported the municipal Department of Industry and Trade on September 4.
Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in HCM City (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s exports in the first eight months of2018 hit 24.6 billion USD, an increase of 6 percent from the same period lastyear, reported the municipal Department of Industry and Trade on September 4.
The city’simports were valued at 30.68 billion USD, up 9.6 percent year-on-year, thedepartment said.
The industrysector remained the biggest contributor to the export revenue. Exports ofcomputers, electronics and parts led all items to reach 6.07 billion USD, up12.8 percent year-on-year and accounting for 24.6 percent of the total exports.
It was followedby shipments of textile and garment which were worth 3.77 billion USD, up 5.4percent and making up 18.1 percent of the total.
Exports ofmachinery, tools and spare parts stood at 1.53 billion USD, up 4.9 percent. Footwear was the only key item of the sector experiencing a decline of 2percent to 1.7 billion USD in export value.
Meanwhile, agro-forestry-fishery products also fell by 0.3 percent year-on-yearto 3.47 billion USD, largely due to drops in prices of key hard currencyearners such as coffee and rubber.
Rubber exportturnover plunged 24.9 percent as its price slid 21.3 percent while price ofcoffee slumped 14.2 percent, causing its export value to drop by 3.1 percent.
Thedepartment’s Deputy Director Nguyen Phuong Dong forecast the exports of industrialas well as agro-forestry-fishery products will be on the rise in the finalquarter of the year owing to higher demand for New Year holidays and therecovery of the US dollar.
However, manyforeign markets have raised their trade barriers and adopted stricter rules onfood safety and environmental protection standards, making the biggest challengeto Vietnam’s exports, he said.-VNA
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Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in HCM City (Photo: VNA) 
