Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s trade balance posted positive, 1.29 billionUSD, in the first two months of the year, the General Department of Customs saidon December 28.

The country’s trade turnover during January-February topped some 95.81 billionUSD, a year-on-year surge of 25.4 percent. Of the total, exports amounted to48.55 billion USD, a yearly hike of 23.2 percent, while imports were estimatedat 47.26 billion USD, or 25.9 percent higher than the same time last year.

Foreign-invested companies accounted for 76.4 percent, or37.07 billion USD, of Vietnam’s total export turnover. Meanwhile, the domesticsector shipped abroad 11.48 billion USD worth of products.

There were nine commodities joining the billion-USD export club, includingtelephones and parts (9.3 billion USD, up 22.8 percent year-on-year);electronics, computers and parts (6.9 billion USD, up 27.3 percent); equipment,machines and parts (5.5 billion USD, up 72.6 percent); footwear (3.2 billionUSD, up 15.4 percent); and wood and wooden products (2.4 billion USD, up 51percent). They made up 73 percent of the country’s export turnover.

Vietnam also saw strong surge in shipments of several agricultural products,such as fruits and vegetables (610 million USD, rising 14.6 percent), rubber(516 million USD, increasing 109.7 percent), cashew (442 million USD, up 21.5percent), and cassava (256 million USD, hiking 78.2 percent).

The US was Vietnam’s biggest importer as it splashed out 14.2 billion USD onVietnamese products, or 38.2 percent higher than the amount it spent the sametime last year. China came second with 8.5 billion USD, followed by the EU with6.3 billion USD, ASEAN 4.2 billion USD, the Republic of Korea 3.4 billion USD,and Japan 3.2 billion USD.

Meanwhile, the country spent big (47.26 billion USD) on imports, with foreign-invested sectorpurchasing 31.64 billion USD worth of products from abroad for production, up31.4 percent, while that of the domestic sector surged 16 percent to 15.62billion USD.

In the two-month period, China was the largest exporter of Vietnam, with revenue estimated at 17.3 billion USD, up 85.7 percent year-on-year, followedby the Republic of Korea with 8.4 billion USD, ASEAN 5.6 billion USD, Japan 3.1billion USD, EU 2.3 billion USD, and the US 2.1 billion USD.

In a bid to support local firms in promoting production and exports, the Ministryof Industry and Trade said that it will work to capitalise on opportunitiesfrom the signed free trade agreements to seek measures for market development.Additionally, it will keep close watch on the global market to identify keyexport products, while paying due heed to penning measures for market development./.