HANOI: Vietnam spent US$927 million on importing 1.66 million tons of petroleum products over the past two months, surging 2 per cent in volume against the same period last year.
Up to 750,000 tons of petroleum products, worth US$433 million, were shipped to Vietnam in February alone, according to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
During the two-month period, petroleum shipments from Singapore to Vietnam hit more than 610,000 tons, valued at $304.7 million, making Singapore Vietnam’s leading supplier for petroleum products.
South Korea came second with 428,300 tons, worth more than $263 million, followed by Malaysia with above 300,000 tons, or equivalent to $138 million and Thailand with 180,000 tons, valued at $73 million.
In two months, Vietnam also imported petroleum from China and Russia, amounting to 123,000 tons, worth $66.2 million, and 5,300 tons, worth $3.24 million, respectively.
Earlier this week, local petroleum retailers lowered the price of petroleum by VND76 per liter and E5 bio-fuel by VND58 per liter to VND18,022 (80 US cents) and VND17,760 per liter.
This marks the first time this year that the ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance reduced the price of petroleum.
