Vietnam's trade deficit through the end of October this year, increased to 4.1 billion USD from 3.9 billion USD in the first nine months , according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). During the first 10 months, the total export value gained a year-on-year surge of 8.5 percent to 134.6 billion USD, while the total import value had a year-on-year increase of 14.3 percent to 138.7 billion. The office reported that the domestic economic sector had a high trade deficit at 17 billion USD because the sector's export value reduced 3.3 percent to 39.6 billion USD, while its import value rose 7.8 percent to 56.6 billion USD, when compared with the same period of last year. In the first 10 months, the foreign-invested sector achieved a trade surplus at 13 billion USD, with its export value at 95 billion USD and its import value at 82 billion USD. China remained the largest exporter to Vietnam with a total trade deficit of 27.2 billion USD on the Vietnamese side, the office said. The increase of export value was mainly due to higher export value of goods made by foreign-invested firms or processed goods, including telephone and its components, which rose 32.7 percent, electronic products and computer which rose 44 percent, textile and garment products, which went up 10.4 percent, and footwear that rose 15.4 percent. Meanwhile, the local economic sector had lower growth rate or reduction in export value, such as wooden products, which rose 8.9 percent, crude oil which dropped 49 percent, coal which dropped 65.7 percent, in addition to rice and seafood, which slid down to 13.3 percent and 17 percent, respectively. The office said import value of products for processing and production of export goods surged sharply, including machines which rose 26.8 percent, electronic and computer rising by 29.7 percent, telephones up 31.8 percent, in addition to plastics and automobiles that climbed 21.7 percent and 64.4 percent, respectively. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has warned that Vietnam's exports of many key products in the remaining months this year are expected to be lower than a year ago due to fierce competition in the global markets. However, the country's total exports would reach between 165 billion USD and 166 billion USD, an increase of 10 percent over last year and meeting the target set by the National Assembly. To achieve the year's export growth target of 10 percent, the ministry would co-operate with business groups to resolve hardships faced by companies. The ministry said it would also strengthen export promotion and speed up negotiations with other countries for mutual recognition of product quality.-VNA