Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor to Israel Le Thai Hoa said Vietnam recorded over US$650 million in exports to and about US$750 million in imports from Israel during January – November.

The trade office forecast the whole-year figures at some US$700 million and US$800 million respectively, resulting in a trade deficit of about US$100 million with Israel.

In October alone, bilateral trade reached US$136.02 million, with Vietnam’s shipments down 16.3% month on month to US$40.14 million and with imports surging 62.1% to US$95.88 million.

The same trend was seen during the 10 months, Hoa noted, adding that exports to Israel fell 11.6% year on year to US$574.21 million but imports shot up 188.6% to US$717.01 million.

The surge of Vietnam’s imports is attributed to the purchase of computers, electronic products and components, which have high value, from Israel, leading to a deficit of US$142.8 million during the 10 month period, he said.

Despite a population of only around 9.3 million, Israel is currently the third largest Middle Eastern export market of Vietnam, following the UAE and Turkey.