Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of US$3.4 billion during the first eight months of this year, buoyed by the soaring value of telephone and component exports.
The General Statistics Office of Vietnam reported the total trade turnover amounted to US$336.56 billion during the eight-month period. Of this, exports soared by 7.3 per cent to US$169.98 billion.
The domestic economic sector had exports up by 13.9 per cent, accounting for 30.6 per cent of the total. Elsewhere, the growth export of the foreign-invested sector reached 4.6 per cent.
The export growth was backed by the soaring shipments of telephones and components which were totally valued at US$33 billion in the reviewed period, or 19.4 per cent of the total.
Meanwhile, imports were estimated at US$166.58 billion in the January-August period, a rise of 8.5 per cent on year.
As many as 33 imported categories with a value of over US$1 billion each contributed 89.1 per cent to the total import turnover. Of note, the value of two imports reached more than US$20 billion, representing 34.6 per cent of the total.
The import of computers and components, along with other electronic items, jumped by 21 per cent to US$33.6 billion, or 20.2 per cent of the total.
Imported machinery and spare parts rose by 12.9 per cent to US$24 billion, while cloth purchases edged up by 4.8 per cent on year to reach US$8.8 billion. Furthermore, automobile imports were valued at US$4.9 billion, a vast leap of 60.3 per cent. - Source: VOV-