The bilateral trade exchange between Vietnam and Thailand is increasing. Thailand is now the biggest trade partner of Vietnam in ASEAN.

The two-way trade between Vietnam and Thailand reached US$ 12.4 billion in the first ten months of this year, showed the statistics figures of the General Department of Customs.

Of the figure, the country exported US$ 3.92 billion worth of goods to, and imported $ 8.48 billion worth of goods from Thailand, increased by 29 per cent and 21.4 per cent, respectively over the same period last year.

So the country has $ 4.55 billion of deficit in trade exchange with Thailand in the first ten months of this year.

The leading items imported by the country from Thailand in the first ten months of this year included household appliance and components - $ 748.59 million, down by 5.5 per cent year – on – year and accounted for 8.8 per cent of the total; machines, equipment and spare parts - $ 743.17 million, up by 13 per cent; petroleum - $ 726.15 million, up by 83.5 per cent; fruit and vegetables - $ 721.73 million, up by 120.4 per cent; CBU autos and spare parts - $ 530.31 million, up by 5.5 per cent.

In the first ten months of this year, the country’s imports of liquefied gas from Thailand rocketed by 10 folds in quantity and over 13 folds in value to 52,829 tons worth of $ 29.12 million; while the imports of corn increased by 13 folds in quantity and 3 folds in value to 153,018 tons worth of $ 50.96 million; fruit and vegetables – up by 120 per cent to $ 721.73 million; oil and grease – up by 225 per cent to $ 13.38 million; tobacco materials – up by 796.8 per cent to $ 0.4 million.

However, the imports of pharmaceutical materials from Thailand decreased sharply by 76 per cent to $ 0.79 million; auto components and spare parts – down by 25.6 per cent; milk and dairy products – down by 22.3 per cent; and ores and minerals – down by 26.5 per cent.