Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of 5.39 billion USD in the first nine months of 2018 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamrecorded a trade surplus of 5.39 billion USD in the first nine months of 2018,the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in a monthly report.
The foreign-invested sector enjoyed a trade surplus of 23.65billion USD, but growth fell to 15 percent year-on-year compared to 23 percentgrowth in the first quarter due to difficulties finding export markets, thereport noted.
The domestic sector reported a trade deficit of 18.26 billion USDin the period, but its exports experienced an encouraging increase of 17.5 percentyear-on-year to 51.07 billion USD, higher than 15 percent jump posted in thefirst quarter.
The domestic sector’s positive export performance had contributedto a yearly rise of 15.4 percent in the country’s nine-month export turnover ofover 178.9 billion USD, nearly double the growth target set for the whole yearby the National Assembly, GSO Director Nguyen Bich Lam said.
According to the report, 26 export commodities brought in morethan 1 billion USD in export value from January to September, making up 90.3 percentof the country’s total export revenue.
Five of them grossed a revenue of more than 10 billion USD,accounting for 58.2 percent of the total export value, including phones andaccessories with 36.1 billion USD, up 15 percent; textiles and garments (22.6billion USD, up 17.1 percent); electronic products, computers and components (21.6billion USD, up 17 percent); machinery, equipment and parts (12.1 billion USD,up 29 percent); and footwear (11.8 billion USD, up 11 percent).
However, crude oil exports witnessed sharp declines in both valueand volume compared to the same period of last year, standing at 1.7 billionUSD, down 25 percent in value despite an average increase of 38 percent inglobal crude oil prices.
In the January - September period, the US remained Vietnam’s biggestexport market, spending 34.9 billion USD on Vietnamese goods, up 13 percentyear-on-year, followed by the EU (31.1 billion USD, up 10 percent) and China (28.1billion USD, up 27 percent).
The country’s import value of commodities in theperiod saw a modest surge of 12 percent to 173.52 billion USD. Of the sum, theforeign-invested sector contributed 104.2 billion USD, up 12 percent, while thedomestic sector made up 69.34 billion USD, up 11.7 percent.
Key import items included electronics, computersand components, equipment and machinery, telephones and components, fabric,iron, steel, plastics, oil and gas, metal, footwear, chemicals, and garment andtextile materials.
China remained Vietnam’s largest import marketduring the period with turnover of 47.1 billion USD, a 12.5 percent climbyear-on-year. The Republic of Korea came next by exporting 35 billion USD worthof goods to Vietnam, a rise of 1.4 percent year-on-year, while ASEAN countriesranked third with 23.2 billion USD, up 13 percent.-VNS/VNA
VNA
