Ho Chi Minh City exported US$36.7 billion worth of goods during the first 10 months of 2020, up 5.5% year-on-year, the municipal Department of Industry and Trade has reported.

Excluding crude oil, the revenue stood at US$35.2 billion in the period, a rise of 7.1% from the corresponding time last year.

The export value of agro-forestry-fishery products reached US$3.86 billion, up 2.25%, making up 12.22% of the southern economic hub’s total export turnover.

The group of industrial products raked in US$25.22 billion in revenue, and other goods earned US$2.55 billion, the department said.

China remained HCM City’s biggest buyer with revenue of US$6.23 billion, a year-on-year increase of around 31.9%, accounting for 20.4% of the city’s accumulative export value.

It was followed by the US (US$5.47 billion), the EU (US$4.1 billion) and Japan (US$2.5 billion).

Regionally, Asia was the city’s largest export market to which US$19.3 billion worth of goods was shipped. Meanwhile, the Oceania and Africa joined the below US$1 billion club.

According to a recent survey by the city’s Statistics Office, half of the enterprises in HCM City affected by the pandemic thought the consumer market has shrunk, and 15.3% said manufactured goods could not be sold domestically.

More than half of State-owned enterprises and 48.45% of foreign-owned enterprises said they have been unable to export this year.

The Department of Industry and Trade is working with the Statistics Office and other agencies to monitor the production and demand situation to take measures to support businesses during the rest of the year.