This far exceeds the previous estimated figure of the General Statistics Office of $1.3 billion.

The report revealed that export value in the first quarter reached $55.6 billion, up by $11.1 billion, or 24.8 per cent, year-on-year.

In Q1, there were more than 10 export commodities with a turnover of billions of dollars.

Key commodities that achieved high growth include phones and components of which export value reached nearly $12.6 billion, an increase of nearly $5 billion, or 62.3 per cent, over the same period of 2017.

Textiles and garments’ export value touched $6.4 billion, up 14.9 per cent; computers, electronic products and spare parts reached $6.3 billion, up 14.1 per cent; and footwear amounted to $3.4 billion, up 10.6 per cent.

Agriculture products also recorded high growth. Fishery’s export turnover was $1.8 billion, increasing by 17.6 per cent; vegetable and fruit $970 million, up 38.5 per cent; and rice $745 million, up 38.1 per cent.

The export turnover of coffee was estimated at $1 billion and ranked second in the group of agriculture products but was up only 0.1 per cent over the same period last year.

On the opposite site, import turnover in the first quarter reached $52.9 billion, with imports by the domestic sector touching $21.2 billion, and that of the foreign-invested sector was $32 billion.