April sees dip in export figures

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam earned 4.5 billion USD from exports in April, a decrease
of 0.1 percent compared with March after rising for two consecutive months,
according to the General Statistics Office.

The decrease, mainly due to overseas markets shrinking, has also reduced the
country's export turnover in the first four months to 18.6 billion USD, a
year-on-year drop of 0.1 percent.

Rice, one of the country's major exports, however, retained its export volume and
value at a fairly high rate. So far this year, the country has shipped nearly 2.5
million tonnes of rice overseas, earning over 1.16 billion USD, a year-on-year
increase of 50 percent in volume and 44 percent in value.

After rice, garments and textiles exports also increased, up by 1.8 percent over the
same period of 2008.

Exports that fell sharply include electronic and computer components, footwear,
coffee, cashew nuts and plastics, which were down between 10-15 percent. The worst
was rubber with a 45.5 percent decrease, followed by crude oil which dropped by 44.7
percent.

In the reviewed period, contributions from the foreign-invested sector also fell
dramatically, while the domestic sector led in export value making 10.2 billion USD
in April, an increase of 27 percent.

Contrary to exports, imports increased by 0.1 percent in April, reaching 5.2 billion
USD.

In the first four months of this year, the country imported over 17.8 billion USD
worth of goods, mainly commodities, machinery and other equipment, a year-on-year
increase of 41 percent.

However the country still managed to gain a trade surplus of 800 million USD.

Economists forecast that domestic production and exports will continue to face
difficulties in the coming months, so businesses need to adopt measures to direct
production towards the domestic market and accurately assess the state of the market
to be prepared for when the recession finishes.-Enditem