Vietnam recorded US$112.19 billion in export earnings in the first eight months of 2016, up 5.5% from January to August of 2015, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Of the total, $32.62 billion was contributed by the domestic sector (up 4%) and $79.57 billion by the foreign-invested sector (up 6.1%).
For August alone, the Southeast Asian nation earned $15.2 billion from exports, up 2% year-on-year. The domestic sector and foreign-invested sector contributed $4.54 billion and $10.66 billion (including crude oil) to witness respective increases of 2.8% and 1.6%.
In the first eight months, some key export items chalked up growth in revenue, including cell phones and accessories ($22.3 billion, up 10.6% year-on-year); garments and textiles ($15.5 billion, up 4.2%); electronics, computers, and accessories ($11.1 billion, up 11.2%); footwear ($8.6 billion, up 8.1%); and seafood ($4.3 billion, up 4.8%).
Meanwhile, items that saw export revenue declines included rice ($1.5 billion, down 13.9% year-on-year), crude oil ($1.5 billion, down 46.2%), rubber ($887 million, down 3.8%) and cassava ($698 million, down 25.7%), said GSO.
The U.S. continued to be the largest market for Vietnamese exported goods with revenue of $24.6 billion in January-August 2016, up 13% from the same period in 2015, followed by the EU ($21.9 billion, up 8.8%), China ($12.6 billion, up 15%), Japan ($9.3 billion, up 0.2%), and South Korea ($7 billion, up 30.7%).
At the same time, during the January-August period, the country spent $109.74 billion on imports, down 0.3% year-on-year, said the office. The domestic sector’s import revenue hit $45.35 billion, up 0.5%, while foreign-invested imports reached $64.39 billion for a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%.
China led in exporting to Vietnam with $31.6 billion, down 2.8%, followed by South Korea with $20.3 billion, up 9.3%, ASEAN with $15.2 billion, down 3.4%, and Japan with $9.5 billion, down 2.5%.
Vietnam’s trade revenue hit $221.93 billion and its trade surplus stood at $2.45 billion in the first eight months of this year. For August, the trade surplus amounted to $200 million.
Industrial production growth slows
In related developments, GSO said Vietnam posted a year-on-year increase of 6.9% in industrial production in the first eight months of 2016.
The figure was lower than the 9.8% year-on-year growth recorded for the same period in 2015.
The slowdown was attributed to the continuous decrease in production of the mining sector. In the first eight months, the production index of the mining sector fell by 3.8% year-on-year.
In the eight-month period, production of the manufacturing and processing sector went up 9.7% year-on-year, while electricity production and distribution increased 11.8% and water supply and waste treatment rose 6.8%.
Photo: Dinkum
