Vietnam ran a trade deficit of 100 million USD in January, after enjoying a trade surplus of billions of USD in 2016.

In the first month of 2017, the country imported 14.7 billion USD and exported 14.6 billion USD worth of commodities, down 14 and 12 percent compared to the figures for December 2016, respectively.

A number of major hard currency earners saw a drop in revenue in comparison with December. Phones and components felt 7.1 percent to 2.5 billion USD, apparel, down 10.8 percent to 2.05 billion USD, and computers-electronic devices, down 14.1 percent to 1.6 billion USD.

Similar downward trend was seen in the import of key goods, with machinery and spare parts reporting a decrease of 15.3 percent to 2.6 billion USD, while computers-electronic devices and petroleum products faced a respective drop of 10.3 and 32.7 percent from December of 2016 to 2.25 billion USD and 510 million USD.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is implementing a programme on sustainable export, which puts forth measures to restructure the market and boost product competitiveness.

The programme also highlights product quality improvement, trade promotion and market expansion.

VNA