The nation’s trade surplus so far this year reached 700 million USD by
March 15, according to statistics from the General Department of
Customs.
The country’s export value in the period
hit 24.5 billion USD, up 23 percent over the same period last year while
import value surged 17.9 percent to nearly 23.8 billion USD.
During the first two weeks of March, exports of such product as
precious stones and jewelry, textiles and garments, mobile phones and
components, crude oil and wood products saw significantly increasing
value against late February, with turnover hitting 80 million USD to 350
million USD each.
Imports of several products
including refined petroleum, animal feed, and machines and equipment
also surged sharply, ranging between 90 million USD and 230 million USD
for each type of product.
On March 21, the Ho Chi
Minh City Statistics Office released estimates indicating the city
enjoyed a 1.32 billion USD trade surplus for the first quarter of this
year, including a 440.3 million USD trade surplus in March.
The city earned a total of 6.58 billion USD from exports in the first
three months, up 12.8 percent year on year, of which key export staples
included rice, sea-food, milk, garments and textiles, footwear and crude
oil.
Meanwhile the city spent 5.26 billion USD on
imports of goods and services during the period, a rise of 7.8 percent
compared to last year.
Meanwhile, the Hanoi
Statistics Office estimated the capital city had a 2.9 billion USD trade
deficit in the first quarter of 2013, with exports inching up 0.3
percent to 2.4 billion USD while imports increased 2.9 percent to 5.35
billion USD.
The office attributed the insignificant
export increase to low import demand from Vietnam’s key export
markets — the US, China and Europe.-VNA