Vietnam spent 1.1 billion USD importing mobile phones and spare parts in May, up 36.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam mostly imported mobile phones from China
and the Republic of Korea in the period. (Photo: cafef.vn)

In the first five months of the year, the country disbursed 4.91 billion USD to import mobile phones and components, a 3.9 percent year-on-year decrease.

Earlier, imports of mobile phones and spare parts into Vietnam fell in the first two months of the year and surged in March and April, with increases of 44.6 and 6.5 percent respectively.

Vietnam mostly imported phones from China and the Republic of Korea (RoK) in the period. Of which, imports from China accounted for 54 percent of the country’s total to reach 2.06 billion USD, a drop of 19.7 percent from the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, mobile phone and spare part imports from the RoK rose by 0.4 percent to 1.5 billion USD in the first five months of 2019.

Vietnam also imported mobile phones from Hong Kong with total value of 32.06 million USD, up 25.8 percent from the same period last year.