Of the figure, Laos exported over 723 million USD worth of goods to and imported more than 552 million USD worth of goods from Vietnam.

In the first 2 months of 2019, Vietnam’s exports of goods to Laos reached 97.4 million USD, up by 20.26 per cent over the same period last year. In February of 2019, the country’s exports of goods to Laos reached 40.6 million USD, decreased by 28.77 per cent compared to January 2019 but increased by 43.12 per cent compared to February 2018.

In contrast, Vietnam also imported 30.73 million USD worth of goods from Laos in February, down by 29.58 per cent compared to January 2019 but increased by 19.25 per cent compared to February 2018. The figure of the first 2 months reached 74.3 million USD, up by 4.79 per cent over the same period last year.

So in the first 2 months of 2019, Vietnam got over 2 million USD of surplus in trade exchange with Laos, increased by 2.3 times (ie, 128.17 per cent) compared to the first 2 months of 2018.

Last year, the main products exported by Laos to Vietnam were drinking water, mineral water, wood products, agricultural products such as rubber, coffee, corn, cassava, rice and livestock. Vietnam is now the third-largest trading partner of Laos after Thailand and China. Laos is a country where Vietnamese enterprises invest the largest proportion with 81.5 per cent, accounting for 18.9 per cent of the total investment capital. Vietnam has invested in 409 projects in Laos worth more than 4 billion USD, mainly hydropower, mining, transportation, industrial crops and services, playing an important role in the development of both countries.

In the first two months of 2019, Vietnam exported to Laos mainly petroleum products, iron and steel, means of transport, iron and steel products - the items with high turnover, and accounted for 40,84 per cent of the proportion, in which gasoline reached the highest level of 12.8 million USD, but decreased by 7.119 per cent compared with the same period last year, although the export volume increased by 2.57 per cent to 22,000 tons. The average export price decreased by 9.51 per cent, equivalent to 583.61 USD per ton.

Notably, in the first 2 months of this year, Laos increased the imports of textile and garment products from Vietnam, though the import value only reached over 1 million USD, but increased by 2.4 times or 143.76 per cent compared to the same period last year. In the opposite direction, Laos strongly reduced imports of non –wooden furniture, with the import value of 68,800 USD, decreased sharply by 70.88 per cent.