Roundup: Vietnam to post 216.2 bln USD in trade revenue in 8 months: statistics office

Vietnam is expected to post 216.2 billion U.S. dollars in trade revenue in the first eight months of 2015, said the General Statistics Office (GSO) on Friday.

Specifically, the country is estimated to earn 106.3 billion U. S. dollars from exports, up 9 percent year-on-year while spending 109.9 billion U.S. dollars on imports, up 16.4 percent year-on- year, said the monthly statistics report released by the office.

During eight-month period, Vietnam is forecast to see growth in export revenue of several items including cell phones and accessories (nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars, up 31.1 percent year- on-year), garment, textile (15 billion U.S. dollars, up 10.9 percent year-on-year), computers, electronic products, accessories (9.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 51.8 percent year-on-year), footwear (8.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 20.9 percent year-on-year), machines, equipment, tools and spare parts (5.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 10. 1 percent year-on-year), wood and its products (4.4 billion U.S. dollars, up 9.6 percent year-on-year), among others.

Other items whose export revenue is likely to decrease compared with the same period last year include seafood (4.2 billion U.S. dollars, down 16.6 percent year-on-year), vehicles and spare parts (3.6 billion U.S. dollars, down 7.1 percent), and rubber (921 million U.S. dollars, down 10.3 percent).

Meanwhile, some items that experience sharp plunges in both export volume and value compared with the same period of 2014 include coffee (down 32.4 percent in volume and 32.8 percent in value), rice (down 6.5 percent in volume and 11 percent in value), coal (down 74.4 percent in volume and 64.2 percent in value), steel (down 7.4 percent in volume and 14.2 percent in value) and crude oil (down 0.6 percent in volume and 48.7 percent in value), said the statistics office.

During the January-August period, the United States remains the largest market for Vietnamese exports, with revenue of 22.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 19.8 percent year-on-year, followed by the European Union with 20.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 12.3 percent year-on-year.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China rank third and fourth among major importers of Vietnamese exports with 12.3 billion U.S. dollars and 10.4 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

Regarding imports, in the first eight months, the country is projected to see rise in import revenue of several items including machines, equipment, tools and spare parts (18.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 33.4 percent year-on-year), computers, electronic products, accessories (7.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 36.3 percent year-on-year), fabrics (6.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 11 percent year-on-year), and plastic (2.5 billion U.S. dollars, up 23.9 percent year-on-year) among others.

China continues to be the largest supplier for Vietnam's imports, with revenue of 32.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 20.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 29.8 percent of Vietnam's total import revenue.

As a result, during eight-month period, Vietnam is forecast to suffer from a trade deficit of 3.6 billion U.S. dollars, making up 3.4 percent of the country's total export revenue.

Among the figure, domestic sector is likely to see trade deficit of 13 billion U.S. dollars, up 44 percent year-on-year while foreign invested sector is expected to enjoy a trade surplus of 9.4 billion U.S. dollars, according to the statistics office. Endi