Viet Nam’s total trade volume with the rest of the world soared by 33.5 percent to US$262.25 billion in the first five months this year, the General Statistics Office reported Saturday.

Of the total, export and import values reached US$130.94 billion and US$131.31 billion, or year-on-year increases of 30.7 percent and 36.4 percent, respectively.

With the above figures, the nation posted a trade deficit of US$369 million in January-May period compared to US$1.9 billion in trade surplus of the same period last year. 

Viet Nam’s key export items included heavy industry and minerals (US$70.7 billion), light industry and handicraft (US$47.32) billion and agriculture-aquaculture-forestry products (US$13 billion). 

The U.S. remained the largest importer of Vietnamese goods with US$37.6 billion, up 49.8 percent. 

It was followed by China US$20.1 billion, up 26 percent; EU US$16.1 billion, up 20.8 percent; ASEAN US$11.5 billion, up 23.7 percent; the Republic of Korea (RoK) US$8.9 billion, up 17.1 percent; and Japan US$8.4 billion, up 7.7 percent. 

Meanwhile, key imports included raw materials (US$123.15 billion); equipment, tools, machines and vehicles (US$58.5 billion); materials and fuels (US$64.35 billion); and consumer goods (US$8.16 billion). 

China was the largest commodity supplier to Viet Nam with US$43.3 billion, up 52.8 percent, followed by the RoK (US$20.9 billion), ASEAN (US$18.1 billion), Japan (US$8.9 billion), the EU (US$6.7 billion) and the U.S. (US$6.4 billion), registering respective growths of 20.5 percent, 54.2 percent, 14.8 percent, 16.8 percent and 6.8 percent.