Vietnam’s trade surplus in September was estimated at 2.29 billion USD, bring the figure in the first nine months of the year to 21.68 billion USD, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on September 29.

During the January – September period, Vietnam exported some 259.67 billion USD worth of products, a year-on-year fall of 8.2%. Meanwhile, the country’s imports totaled 237.99 billion USD, down 13.8% year on year.

Regarding the structure of exported goods in the period, processed goods accounted for 88.3% of the total export value, with 292.22 billion USD. As for imported goods, materials for production made up 93.7% of the value, with 223.08 billion USD.

The US was the largest export market of Vietnam with 70.9 billion USD, while China was the largest import market of the Southeast Asian country with 79.1 billion USD.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the drop in Vietnam’s exports was attributed to slow recovery of the global economy, falling demand and high interest rates in developed countries such as the US, EU nations and China, coupled with a tightened monetary policy and high levels of inventory.

The ministry will continue to keep a close watch on the global economic situation, especially policy adjustments of large importers so as to give timely warnings to enterprises, and propose the Government to outline rational response policies.

Additionally, it will focus on renewing and enhancing trade promotion activities targeting new markets and potential ones, as well as support businesses to capitalise on free trade agreement’s preferences to bolster exports.

It will also work to give early warnings on trade barriers that are possibly levied by large import markets.

VNA