Goods containers at a port in HCMC. Vietnam’s foreign trade in the first two months of the year picked up by 2.4% year-on-year to US$74 billion - PHOTO: VNA

According to the General Statistics Office, in the two-month period, Vietnam exported US$36.9 billion worth of products and spent US$37.1 billion on imports. Thus, the country ran a trade deficit of US$176 million in the period, the local media reported.

Major export earners were phones and phone parts, with export revenue of US$6.9 billion; computers, electronic products and accessories, US$5.4 billion; machines, equipment, tools and machine parts, US$3 billion; and footwear, US$2.7 billion.

Meanwhile, the export earnings from agricultural products fell significantly against the same period last year, with seafood dropping 17.7%; coffee, 9.8%; vegetables and fruits, 17.4%; cashew nuts, 19.3%; and pepper, 18.8%.

The United States remained the largest buyer of Vietnam’s products in the first two months, with export revenue hitting US$9.8 billion, up 19.6% year-on-year. The European Union came in second with US$5 billion, followed by China with US$4.8 billion and the ASEAN with US$3.5 billion.

Vietnam spent US$8.6 billion on computers, electronic products and accessories; US$5.3 billion on machines, equipment, tools and machine parts; and US$2.1 billion on phones and phone parts in the two-month period.

China was Vietnam’s largest exporter with turnover of US$10 billion, down a slight 0.4% over the year-ago period, followed by South Korea with US$8 billion, the ASEAN with US$4.5 billion and Japan with US$2.8 billion.

Although the country’s foreign trade in the first two months of this year was higher than that in the same period last year, it was much lower than the figure recorded in the last two months of last year. In November and December last year, Vietnam’s trade value reached nearly US$89 billion. SGT

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