Vietnam reported an estimated trade surplus of US$700 million in September, expanding the country's trade surplus to US$5.39 billion in the January-September period, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.
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In September, Vietnam exported goods worth US$20.5 billion, down 12.7% month-on-month, while import turnover reached US$19.80 billion, down 7%.
Overall, Vietnam's trade turnover reached US$352.43 billion in the first nine months of 2018, of which, export value amounted to US$178.91 billion, up 15.4% year-on-year, and imports totaled US$173.52 billion, up 11.8%.
According to the report, Vietnam's export staples during the January - September period continued to increase compared to the same period of the previous year, including phones and accessories with US$36.1 billion, up 14.6%; garment US$22.6 billion, up 17.1%; electronic products, computers and components US$21.6 billion, up 16.7%; equipment, parts US$12.1 billion, up 28.7%; and footwear US$11.8 billion, up 10.5%.
Additionally, Vietnamese fishery exports climbed 6.9% year-on-year to US$6.4 billion. Remarkable growth of export turnovers was also seen in vegetables with US$3 billion (up 15.2% year-on-year) and rice with US$2.5 billion (up 22.1% yearly).
However, crude oil exports witnessed sharp declines in both value and volume compared to the same period of last year, standing at US$1.7 billion, down 24.6% in value while the export volume fell 45.2%.
In the January - September period, the US remained Vietnam's biggest export market, spending US$34.9 billion on Vietnamese goods, up 12.5% year-on-year, followed by the European Union with US$31.1 billion, up 9.6%, and China with US$28.1 billion, up 26.6%.
Meanwhile, China remained Vietnam's largest import market during January-September with turnover of US$47.1 billion, a 12.4% climb year-on-year.
South Korea claimed the second place by exporting US$35 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, up 1.4% year-on-year, followed by ASEAN with US$23.2 billion, up 13%.
