Mobile phone production at Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Phones and parts topthe list of hard currency earners in the first half of 2018. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – As many as 20 products recorded morethan 1 billion USD in export turnover in the first half of 2018, accounting for85.6 percent of Vietnam’s total exports, according to the General StatisticsOffice (GSO).
Phones and parts topped the list of hard currency earnerswith exports worth 22.5 billion USD, up 15.4 percent, the GSO said.
It was followed by computers, electronics and accessories(13.5 billion USD, up 15.7 percent), textiles – garment (13.4 billion USD, up13.8 percent), machinery and components (7.8 billion USD, up 30.6 percent),footwear (7.8 billion USD, 10.6 percent), vehicles and parts (4.1 billion USD,up 20.5 percent) and wood and timber products (4.1 billion USD, up 12.4percent).
Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 2.71 billion USD inthe first six months of 2018 as the country earned 113.93 billion USD fromexports, a year-on-year rise of 16 percent while imports hit 111.22 billion USD,up 10 percent. Domestic firms experienced a trade deficit of 12.94 billion USDwhile the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil exporters, enjoyed atrade surplus of 15.65 billion USD.
Of the total exports, more than 33.1 billion USD came from shipments bydomestic enterprises, an annual rise of 19.9 percent, while the remainder camefrom the foreign invested sector (including crude oil), up 14.5 percent.
According to Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Ministryof Industry and Trade’s Foreign Trade Agency, Vietnam has made good use oftariff preferences in free trade agreements to expand export markets. This wasreflected through the country’s export turnover increasing 9.2 percent to theUS, 12.3 percent to the EU, 28 percent to China, 31.8 percent to the Republicof Korea and 17.4 percent to ASEAN.
Notably, Vietnam saw impressive export growth in India (96.6 percent), Iraq(27.9 percent), Ukraine (22.4 percent) and Russia (25.4 percent).
Vietnam’s GDP expanded 7.08 percent in January – June,marking the highest rate since 2010, fueled by robust expansion of theindustrial and construction sector and service sector, according to GSO GeneralDirector Nguyen Bich Lam.
The two biggest contributors to the GDP growth were theindustrial and construction sector and the service industry, which rose by 9.07percent and 6.9 percent, respectively. –VNA
VNA
