General Statistics Office - export volume

Hanoi (VNA) – Despite maintaining significant export volume, the country’s
export turnover in the first nine months of this year reached roughly 41.7 billion
USD, down 14.3 percent from the same period last year, according to the General
Statistics Office (GSO).

The deputy director of the GSO’s trade statistics department, Le Minh Thuy,
attributed the decline to falling prices for major export products on the global
market.
Crude oil exports, for instance, totalled 10.95 million tonnes during the period,
up 8.6 percent year-on-year, but earned only 4.77 billion USD, a decrease of 45.6
percent, due to the declining global oil price, Thuy said.
Agricultural products were one of the few bright spots, with earnings from pepper
exports up 5.5 percent to 267 million USD, and rice, rubber and coffee all surging
in export value by 7-34 percent.
The country’s import in the first nine months also decreased in value to 48.2
billion USD, a 25.2 percent decline which the GSO attributed to falling domestic
demand as well as declining world prices.

Steel imports, for instance, topped 7.3 million tonnes and totalled 3.8 billion USD,
a 1.2 percent increase in volume but a 35.5 percent down in value. Major equipment
imports totalled 8 billion USD during the period, a decrease of 15.4 percent.

The figures trimmed the nation’s trade deficit in the first nine months to 6.54
billion USD, 58.8 percent less than the same time last year.

The GSO was predicting total export turnover for the year to remain below 60 billion
USD, lower than the originally targeted 64 billion USD.-Enditem