Vietnam reported an estimated trade deficit of US$400 million in November, causing the country's trade surplus to narrow to US$6.8 billion in the January-November period, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.
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In November, Vietnam exported goods worth US$21.6 billion, down 4.1% month-on-month, while import turnover reached US$22 billion, up 1.1%.
Overall, Vietnam's trade turnover reached US$443.45 billion in the first 11 months of 2018, of which, export value amounted to US$223.63 billion, up 14.4% year-on-year, and imports totaled US$216.82 billion, up 12.4%.
According to the report, Vietnam's export staples during the period continued to increase compared to the same period of the previous year, including phones and accessories with US$46.1 billion up 11.5% year-on-year; garment US$27.8 billion, up 17.4%; electronic products, computers and components US$27 billion, up 13.9%; equipment, spare parts US$15.1 billion up 28.6%; and footwear US$14.5 billion, up 9.9%.
Additionally, Vietnamese fishery exports climbed 6.1% year-on-year to US$8 billion. Remarkable growth of export turnovers was also seen in vegetables with US$3.5 billion (up 11.6% year-on-year) and rice with US$2.9 billion (up 16.8% yearly).
However, crude oil exports witnessed sharp declines in both value and volume compared to the same period of last year, standing at US$2.1 billion and 3.6 million tons, down 20.4% in value and 42.5% in volume.
In the January - November period, the US remained Vietnam's biggest export market, spending US$43.7 billion on Vietnamese goods, up 15% year-on-year, followed by the European Union with US$38.2 billion, up 8.8%, and China with US$38.1 billion, up 23.2%.
Meanwhile, China remained Vietnam's largest import market during January-November with turnover of US$59.7 billion, a 13% climb year-on-year.
South Korea claimed the second place by exporting US$43.5 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, up 1.7% year-on-year, followed by ASEAN with US$29 billion, up 13.5%.
