Hanoi (VNA)  - Vietnam’s total export earningshit 13 billion USD in February, raising the total in the first two months ofthis year to 27.3 billion USD, up 15.4 percent annually, said the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT).

Of the two-monthfigure, 19.7 billion USD was contributed by foreign investment sector,including crude oil, marking a 16.8 percent increase while the remaining wasfrom domestic sector, up 12.2 percent.

The MoIT’sstatistics showed that agro-forestry-fisheries earned 3.2 billion USD inFebruary, or 9.9 percent rise year-on-year, accounting for 11.4 percent of thetotal.

Severalcommodities raked in less export revenues, including rice (21.4 percent), pepper(26.9 percent), cassava and its products (15.8 percent).

Mineral andmaterials group saw a 49.2 percent surge to nearly 0.7 billion USD, equivalentto 1.9 percent of the total. Meanwhile, processing industry group earned 22billion USD, up 1.5 percent year on year and making up 80.6 percent of thetotal. Only a few commodities suffered steep export prices such as pepper (21.1percent) and ore and other minerals (48.4 percent).

Notably, the USremained Vietnam’s largest importer with a two-month growth of 18.9 percent, or21.8 percent of the country’s total shipment. It was followed by Asia, EuropeanUnion, China and the Republic of Korea.

According to expertsfrom the MoIT’s Export-Import Department, the decrease in export volumes ofagro-forestry-fisheries, minerals and materials shows that domestic exporters arefacing increasingly intense competition from their Cambodian, Philippine,Bangladeshi and Pakistani rivals, pointing to the need to outline a long-term schemeto stabilise export capability.

During the twomonths, the import of iron & steel wastages and nine-seater automobiles fromASEAN and India rose significantly due to a reduction of tariff imposed on ASEANautomobiles with fewer than nine seats from 40 percent to 30 percent as committedin the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, and steep discount of made-in-India car pricesto compete with those from Thailand and Indonesia.

The MoIT is embarkingon a sustainable export development scheme, in which, specific measures areoutlined to restructure the market, renew growth and improve competitiveness ofexport products.

It will alsoaccelerate trade promotion of goods of high competitiveness, expand exportmarkets for key items and develop production to meet domestic and overseasdemand, towards a more balanced trade.-VNA