Mobile phones, parts bring biggest export revenue to Vietnam in 2014: Customs

Vietnam has shipped abroad mobile phones and parts worth 23.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, the biggest revenue of export staples flowing into the country during the year, the Vietnam Customs reported on its website Tuesday.

The figure posted an expansion of 11.1 percent, or 2.36 billion U.S. dollars, compared with that from 2013.

It was followed by textiles and garments, which earned 20.9 billion U.S. dollars in turnover, and computers and parts with 11. 4 billion U.S. dollars.

Other export staples include footwear with 10.3 billion dollars, seafood with 7.8 billion dollars, and crude oil with 6.9 billion dollars, according to statistics of the customs office.

In 2014, the EU imported mobile phones and parts worth 8.45 billion dollars from Vietnam, a 3.6-percent increase year-on-year. The European bloc was Vietnam's largest mobile phone importer, accounting for 36 percent of the total export revenue of this item.

Meanwhile, the country's mobile exports to the UAE hit 3.63 billion dollars, up 6.1 percent year on year, whereas those shipments to the U.S. and India were 1.54 billion dollars and 890 million dollars, respectively.

Last year, mobile exports to the U.S. increase more than two times compared to 2013.

According to the Customs Office's updated statistics, Vietnam posted a record trade surplus of 2.14 billion U.S. dollars, with 150.19 billion dollars from exports against 148.05 billion dollars from imports. Endi