Trade with Myanmar up by 36%
HA NOI (VNS)— Two-way trade turnover between Viet Nam and Myanmar hit US$227 million in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 35.9 per cent, according to the General Department of Customs.
In 2012 Myanmar ranked 55th among 230 foreign exporters to Viet Nam, shipping $117.8 million worth of commodities, up 42.9 per cent compared to 2011.
With this result, the country enjoyed a trade surplus of more than $8 million with Myanmar for the first time over the past decade, the department says.
Although this trade surplus is still low, in comparison with the excess of Viet Nam imports over exports to Myanmar in previous years, it can be considered a positive progress in the two countries bilateral trade.
The potential of trade exchange between the two countries is great as in ASEAN, Vietnamese exports to Myanmar are just higher than those to Brunei and account for 0.7 per cent of its total exports to all ASEAN member countries.
Over the past decade, total export-import value of goods of the two countries also grew by 24.8 per cent on average, with growth of Viet Nam exports and imports reaching 23.8 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.
In January 2013, Viet Nam exports to Myanmar reached $13.7 million, up by 1.8 per cent over the previous month. Viet Nam’s major export items were steel products, machinery and equipment, garments and plastics, while main imports from Myanmar were wood, rubber and copper.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese imports in the first month of the year fell by 45.6 per cent to $3.6 million due to a sharp reduction in wood imports. — VNS