Revenue from exports of smartphones and their components skyrocketed in the first eight months of this year, amounting to US$31 billion, shows data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launched on the local market. Revenue from exports of smartphones and their components reached some US$5.2 billion in August, soaring by a staggering 33.6% against July 

In particular, revenue from exports of this product group generated some US$5.2 billion in August, soaring by a staggering 33.6% against July. The figure was higher than the monthly average of this product group, at US$3.5 billion. For example, June and July saw smartphones and their components bringing in US$3.32 billion and US$3.86 billion, respectively.

The sharp hike in revenue from exports of this product group last month was attributed to Samsung’s launch of the Galaxy Note 9. Vietnam is one of the countries that manufacture Samsung smartphones, with many markets across the world strongly increasing their imports of the product from the country.

As such, in the year to late August, Vietnam alone had got US$31.63 billion from exporting smartphones and their components, up 18.5% year-on-year. This marked the first time that revenue from this product group had surpassed US$31 billion in the eight-month period.

Exports of this product group to the European Union, which has 28 member states, reached US$8.89 billion in January-August, up 12.4% year-on-year. Besides this, smartphone exports to China increased threefold, reaching US$4.2 billion, while the United States spent US$3.54 billion importing the product from Vietnam.

The export value of this product group accounted for some 20% of the country’s total goods exports, outstripping the country’s second most-exported product group in terms of export revenue.

Textile and garment exports generated US$19.76 billion in the first eight months, up 16.9%, or US$2.86 billion, year-on-year. Electronics and their parts ranked third on the list of goods exports; the eight-month period saw revenue from this product group growing 17.3% year-on-year to US$18.95 billion.

The surge in exports of smartphones and their components significantly contributed to Vietnam’s export activities, with total revenue reaching US$23.48 billion in August, up a whopping 15.6% against the figure for July.

Meanwhile, imports in August posted US$21.28 billion in value, edging up 1.6%, or US$329 million, resulting in the goods trade balance in August reaching US$2.2 billion.

The data also indicates that up to 37 out of 46 product groups showed a rise in exports in August compared with July, with 10 groups witnessing a growth rate of 20%. In addition, in the past eight months, 25 out of 45 product groups earned over US$1 billion in export revenue, making up 89.6% of the country’s total export earnings.

Export revenue reached a combined US$158.41 billion over the eight-month period, maintaining a fast growth rate of 16.7%, or rising by US$22.69 billion year-on-year.

Meanwhile, import turnover amounted to US$153.72 billion over the first eight months, up 12.4% against the same period last year.

SGT