HA NOI: Viet Nam had a trade deficit of US$3.7 billion (S$5billion) in the first half of this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The office said the total import value of the nation in the first half marked a year-on-year increase of 17.7 per cent at $81.5 billion. Of which, 41.1 per cent of the total import value came from machines, components, and equipment, while 50 per cent came from material and fuel imports.
The import value of machines, equipment, and components had a year-on-year surge of 37.4 per cent to reach $14.6 billion; 37.5 per cent in electronic products, computers, and their components, reaching $11.4 billion; 31.9 per cent in telephone and its components to reach $5.21 billion; and 13 per cent in materials for textiles, garments, and footwear to $2.57 billion.
Meanwhile, the imports of auto saw a sharp increase of 97.5 per cent in value to $2.95 billion against the same period last year.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises marked a 25.5 per cent year-on-year rise in import value, reaching $50 billion in the first half of this year, while the import value of domestic enterprises had an increase of 7.7 per cent to $32.7 billion against the same last year.
Le Thi Minh Thuy, head of the GSO’s Commercial Department, said imports from China remained high at $24.4 billion against other markets such as ASEAN ($12 billion), Japan ($7.3 billion), the European Union ($4.5 billion), and the United States ($3.8 billion).
The GSO also reported that Viet Nam’s export value gained a year-on-year surge of 9.3 per cent to $77.7 billion in the first half of 2015.
FDI enterprises contributed $54.88 billion to the total national export value of the first six months, a surge of 15.3 per cent; however, the local economic sector brought in $22.86 billion in export value, down 2.9 per cent compared with the first half of last year.
Goods that saw major growth in export value were products for assembling and processing, including telephones and components ($14.67 billion, up 27.1 per cent), electronic items, computers and components ($7.37 billion, up 60.4 per cent), and textiles and garments ($10.2 billion, up 9 per cent).
The other products that registered an increase in export value were tapioca, cashew, and wooden items.
Meanwhile, the export value of crude oil reduced by 45.7 per cent to $2.17 billion, while that of rice fell 8.9 per cent to $1.34 billion, seafood by 14.5 per cent to $3.27 billion, and coffee by 34.8 per cent to $1.43 billion.
