|
Trade deficit narrows in first quarter
The trade deficit in the first quarter of this year reduced to US$3.028 billion compared with $3.5 billion in the same period last year due to a sharp increase in export value, said the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The export value in the first quarter grew 33.7 per cent to $19.25 billion against the same period last year.
The Government has a 10-per-cent target in export value growth for the year.
"This export value growth for the first quarter was the highest rate since 2004," Head of the Statistics Office's Trade department Le Thi Minh Thuy said.
The export activities had increased sharply since early this year in line with the world economic recovery. The total export value showed a year-on-year increase of 18 per cent in January and 41.3 per cent in February and reached $7.5 billion in March, compared to $4.8 billion in February.
In the first quarter, the export value's year-on-year increase was $1.47 billion for coffee, up 115 per cent; $774 million for rubber, up 134 per cent; $1.29 billion for footwear, up 29.7 per cent; $2.79 billion for textiles and garments, up 27.9 per cent, the statistics office said.
Meanwhile, the export value of crude oil jumped 15.7 per cent in line with world crude oil prices, though the volume dropped by 12.3 per cent to 2 million tonnes.
The export value in the first quarter increased by 40 per cent to $8.79 billion in the State-owned sector and by 28.7 per cent to $10.46 billion in the foreign-invested sector.
The largest export markets during the first three months of the year included the US, the European Union, ASEAN and Japan.
"There were not signs of reducing exports from Viet Nam to Japan since the tsunami and earthquake hit that country in the first half of this month," Thuy said.
The growth rate of total import value in the first three months was up 23.8 per cent to $22.3 billion compared with the same period of last year. This was lower than the export value growth rate.
"However, the total trade deficit had a trend of increase month by month due to surges in the world prices," Thuy said. "The deficit jumped from $766 million in January to $1.11 billion in February and to $1.15 billion in March."
During the first quarter, the import value jumped by 20.7 per cent to $12.8 billion for the State-owned sector and by 28.4 per cent to $9.5 billion for the foreign-invested sector.
The import volumes of some products fell while their values increased due to a high price on the world market, the statistics office said. They included petrol, plastics, cotton, fibre, steel, electronic products, computer and auto.
vietnamnews
|
