Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam ran a trade deficit of 100 million USD in January,after enjoying a trade surplus of billions of USD in 2016.
In thefirst month of 2017, the country imported 14.7 billion USD and exported 14.6billion USD worth of commodities, down 14 and 12 percent compared to thefigures for December 2016, respectively.
A number ofmajor hard currency earners saw a drop in revenue in comparison with December. Phonesand components felt 7.1 percent to 2.5 billion USD, apparel, down 10.8 percentto 2.05 billion USD, and computers-electronic devices, down 14.1 percent to 1.6billion USD.
Similardownward trend was seen in the import of key goods, with machinery and spareparts reporting a decrease of 15.3 percent to 2.6 billion USD, whilecomputers-electronic devices and petroleum products faced a respective drop of10.3 and 32.7 percent from December of 2016 to 2.25 billion USD and 510 millionUSD.
TheMinistry of Industry and Trade is implementing a programme on sustainableexport, which puts forth measures to restructure the market and boost product competitiveness.
Theprogramme also highlights product quality improvement, trade promotion andmarket expansion.-VNA
VNA
