Pandemic takes toll on Vietnam’s exports to Israel: trade office
The COVID-19 pandemic and political developments in Israel has partly affected Vietnam’s exports to this market, according to Vietnam’s trade office in Israel.
A cargo ship docks at the Port of Haifa in Israel (Photo: timesofisrael.com)
Tel Aviv (VNA) –The COVID-19 pandemic and political developments in Israel has partly affectedVietnam’s exports to this market, according to Vietnam’s trade office inIsrael.
Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor in Israel LeThai Hoa said Vietnam recorded over 650 million USD in exports to and about 750million USD in imports from Israel during January – November.
The trade office forecast the whole-year figuresat some 700 million USD and 800 million USD respectively, resulting in a tradedeficit of about 100 million USD with Israel.
In October alone, bilateral trade reached 136.02million USD, with Vietnam’s shipments down 16.3 percent month on month to 40.14million USD while imports surging 62.1 percent to 95.88 million USD.
The same trend was seen during the 10 months,Hoa noted, adding that exports to Israel fell 11.6 percent year on year to574.21 million USD but imports shot up 188.6 percent to 717.01 million USD.
The surge of Vietnam’s imports is attributed tothe purchase of computers, electronic products and components, which have highvalue, from Israel, leading to a deficit of 142.8 million USD during the 10months, he said.
Despite a population of only around 9.3 million,Israel is currently the third largest Middle Eastern export market of Vietnam,following the UAE and Turkey./.
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A cargo ship docks at the Port of Haifa in Israel (Photo: timesofisrael.com) 
