Hanoi (VNA) –Vietnam’s goods exports valued at 27.7 billion USD, up 0.2 percent from theprevious month and 50.5 percent from the same period last year, according tothe latest data unveiled by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

The GSO largely attributedthe sharp year-on-year increase to multinational electronics producer Samsungof the Republic of Korea (RoK) stepping up production and export of its newGalaxy S21 series.

In January, six items enjoyedexport revenues exceeding the 1 billion USD benchmark, accounting for 67.3percent of the total exports.

Best performers included theheavy industry and mining sector which earned 15.6 billion USD in export revenue,up 71.6 percent year-on-year; and the light industry and handicrafts earning9.7 billion USD from export, up 32.3 percent.

Agriculture and forestryexported 1.8 billion USD worth of products this month, up 21.4 percentyear-on-year; while fisheries earned 600 million USD, up 19.6 percent.

The US remained thelargest importer of Vietnamese products in January, with a total of 7.5 billionUSD worth of shipments, up 57.4 percent from a year earlier.

It was followed by China(5.8 billion USD, up 111.6 percent), the EU (2.8 billion USD, 14.8 percent),ASEAN (2.3 billion USD, 31.9 percent), and Japan (1.9 billion USD, 22,7percent).

Vietnam’s imports,meanwhile, stood at 26.4 billion USD in January, representing a fall of 5.4percent compared to December but a growth of 41 percent from the same periodlast year. Four items reported import turnover of more than 1 billion USD,making up 50.6 percent of the total imports.

China remained Vietnam’sbiggest supplier of products, with turnover of 9.6 billion USD, 72.7 percenthigher than the figure a year earlier.

It was followed by the RoK(5.1 billion USD, up 29.3 percent), ASEAN (3.4 billion USD, 63.3 percent),Japan (2 billion USD, 52.9 percent), and the EU (1.3 billion USD, 23.3percent).

Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplusof 1.3 billion USD this month, with the domestic economic sector recording a tradedeficit of 1.8 billion USD while the FDI sector (including crude oil) boasting atrade surplus of 3.1 billion USD.

The GSO also announcedthat total retail sales of goods and services in January rose by 3.7 percentmonth-on-month and 6.4 percent year-on-year to 479.9 trillion VND.

The number of foreigntourist arrivals totalled over 17,700, up 9 percent month-on-month and down99.1 percent year-on-year./.