In the year to mid-May, the country had had a trade deficit of US$223 million.

Commodities seeing a sharp fall in export revenue in the first two weeks of May included phones and phone parts (down 39.3%); computers, electronics and accessories (down 32.1%); and machinery, equipment, tools and accessories (down 24.4%).

Meanwhile, fuels and animal feed materials registered the highest import turnover in the two-week period, at 31.7% and 57.1%, respectively.

In the first 15 days of this month, the country’s total import-export turnover reached US$28.34 billion, down 15.6% over the previous 15 days. The figure in the year to May 15 had amounted to US$270.56 billion, up 15.4% year-on-year.

The country’s exports totaled nearly US$135.2 billion while its imports reached US$135.39 billion.

The export revenue from computers, electronics and accessories; fuels; and coal soared by US$7.5 billion, US$2.14 billion and US$1.46 billion, or 30%, 129.7% and 111.9%, respectively.

Imports of many products surged, such as phones and phone parts by US$2.61 billion; textiles and garments by US$2.32 billion; machinery, equipment, tools and accessories by US$1.76 billion; and computers, electronic products and accessories by US$1.78 billion.