The country ran a trade deficit of US$250 million during the first half of January, with the country’s total import and export turnover reaching US$26.05 billion, according to statistics compiled by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

In line with these figures, the country exported goods worth a total of US$12.9 billion while spending US$13.15 billion on imports. Indeed, export turnover throughout the reviewed period increased by approximately US$2 billion, equivalent to over 18.3%, an increase which can be considered highly impressive compared to the growth rate of 7% seen during the same period last year.

During the first half of January, the nation had four groups of goods with export turnover reaching over US$1 billion, with the new category of machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts enjoying robust growth in export turnover, grossing US$1.45 billion, representing a sharp increase of 72% compared to the same period from last year.

The remaining three commodity groups also maintained a turnover of over US$1 billion, including phones and accessories, computers, electronic products and components, garments and textiles, of which phones and components were  export items with the largest turnover of US$2.86 billion.  

Import turnover also saw a rise of some US$2.2 billion compared to the same period from last year, equivalent to an increase of more than 19%.