20 items earn more than US$1 billion in export revenue in H1
As many as 20 products recorded more than US$1 billion in export turnover in the first half of 2018, accounting for 85.6% of Vietnam’s total exports, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
 |
Phones and parts topped the list of hard currency earners with exports worth US$22.5 billion, up 15.4%, the GSO said.
It was followed by computers, electronics and accessories (US$13.5 billion, up 15.7%), textiles – garment (US$13.4 billion, up 13.8%), machinery and components (US$7.8 billion, up 30.6%), footwear (US$7.8 billion, 10.6%), vehicles and parts (US$4.1 billion, up 20.5%) and wood and timber products (US$4.1 billion, up 12.4%).
Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$2.71 billion in the first six months of 2018 as the country earned US$113.93 billion from exports, a year-on-year rise of 16% while imports hit US$111.22 billion, up 10%. Domestic firms experienced a trade deficit of US$12.94 billion while the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil exporters, enjoyed a trade surplus of US$15.65 billion.
Of the total exports, more than US$33.1 billion came from shipments by domestic enterprises, an annual rise of 19.9%, while the remainder came from the foreign invested sector (including crude oil), up 14.5%.
According to Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Foreign Trade Agency, Vietnam has made good use of tariff preferences in free trade agreements to expand export markets. This was reflected through the country’s export turnover increasing 9.2% to the US, 12.3% to the EU, 28% to China, 31.8% to the Republic of Korea and 17.4% to ASEAN.
Notably, Vietnam saw impressive export growth in India (96.6%), Iraq (27.9%), Ukraine (22.4%) and Russia (25.4%).
Vietnam’s GDP expanded 7.08% in January – June, marking the highest rate since 2010, fueled by robust expansion of the industrial and construction sector and service sector, according to GSO General Director Nguyen Bich Lam.
The two biggest contributors to the GDP growth were the industrial and construction sector and the service industry, which rose by 9.07% and 6.9%, respectively.
