Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) in
2012 reached 29.09 billion USD, up 19.7 percent from 2011, according to
the General Department of Customs.
Vietnam exported 20.3 billion
USD worth of goods to the EU in 2012, an increase of 22.7 percent year
on year, while importing 8.79 billion USD worth of goods and services,
up 13.4 percent. As a result, the EU surpassed the US to become Vietnam’s largest importer.
Vietnam’s key export items to the EU were
garments, footwear, coffee, seafood, computers, mobile handsets and
spare parts. These accounted for 75 percent of the country’s total
exports in 2012.
While the country only began to export mobile
handsets and spare parts to the EU in 2011, the export value for these
products topped 5.4 billion USD last year.
Other commodities saw
moderate growth, such as plastic products, wood and wooden products,
bags, suitcases, umbrellas, pepper and cashew nuts.
For its part, Vietnam imported mainly machinery and equipment, pharmaceuticals, milk and dairy products from the EU.
According to the European market Department under the Ministry of
Industry and Trade, the growth in bilateral trade between Vietnam and
the EU despite the worlds economic stagnation and the debt crisis
facing many EU member nations is a positive signal, suggesting that the
cooperation between the two sides is steadily increasing.-VNA