Total export value increased 14.5 per cent year-on-year to 155.4 billion USD during the period. Of which, the domestic economic sector achieved a year-on-year surge of 17.4 percent to 45.11 billion USD, while the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector gained 110.3 billion USD, an increase of 13.4 percent.

The FDI sector had lower growth in export value against the domestic sector but it holds 71 percent of total national export value.

Many key exports gained high growth, such as telephones and parts, up 15.7 percent to 30.9 billion USD; and electronic products, computer and their parts, up 14.2 percent to 18.4 billion USD. 

The export value of garments was estimated at 19.42 billion USD, increasing 14.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
 
Vietnam also saw strong growth for some farming products, including fruits and vegetables (up 14.8 percent to 2.7 billion USD) and rice (up 23.6 percent to 2.2 billion USD).

However, other commodities faced difficulty increasing export value due to falling global prices. Coffee export fell 3.1 percent in value to 2.5 billion USD, though they increased 14.8 percent in volume while rubber fell 12.1 percent in value to 1.2 billion USD despite a 7.9 percent rise in volume. Pepper exports also dropped 35.7 percent in value to 584 million USD while surging 4.7 percent in volume.

Crude oil export fell in both volume and value by 46.6 percent and 24.6 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the country’s imports rose 11.6 percent year-on-year to 152.6 million USD. Of which, the domestic sector’s value reached 61.85 billion USD, up 11.8 percent while the FDI sector stood at 90.81 billion USD, up 11.4 percent.

Imports mainly served production of export products in the FDI sector. The country bought 26.9 billion USD of electronic products, computer and parts, up 13.7 percent; 9.3 billion USD for telephone and parts, up 4.3 percent; and 8.5 billion USD for cloth, up 16.1 percent.

Some others for the domestic production had high growth, including steel (up 10.2 percent to 6.7 billion USD), plastic (up 17.1 percent to 5.8 billion USD), petrol and oil (up 26.4 percent to 5.7 billion USD), metal products (up 35.9 percent to 5.3 billion USD), and chemical products (up 26.3 percent to 3.3 billion USD).

Vietnam’s trade surplus in the first eight months was estimated at more than 2.75 billion USD.-