Vietnam Reports Trade Surplus

Vietnam had a trade surplus of $2.59 billion from the beginning of 2016 until December 15, according to the General Department of Customs, Vietnamnews reported. However, in the first half of this month, the nation had a trade deficit of $288 million. The general department said Vietnam had a total trade value of $333.06 billion from early this year to December 15, a year on year increase of 6.4%. The national export value from January 1 to December 1 rose by 8.5% year-on-year to $167.83 billion, including $7.9 billion in first half of December that reduced by 7.2% against the same period of November. Of which, foreign invested enterprises, which hold 70.3% of the national export value, achieved a year-on-year growth of 11.5% in total export value to $117.99 billion since the early this year until December 15, reported chinhphu.vn. Many products saw growth in export value from January 1 to December 15, including textile and garments (1.5%), vegetable and fruits (19.8%), rice (43%) and coffee (24.5%).