VietNamNet Bridge – The country's export turnover in the first 11 months this year reached around US$51.4 billion, an 11.4 per cent year-on-year decrease, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The country's export turnover in the first 11 months this year reached around US$51.4 billion, an 11.4% year-on-year decrease.

With such turnover, the country's exports reached an average of $4.6 billion per month and projected the 2009 turnover to be in the region of $56 billion, lower than the originally targeted $64.5 billion in a year on year decrease.

Le Minh Thuy, an official of the GSO, said that in the first 11 months, exports from the domestic economic sector reached $24.3 billion, a decrease of 11.4 per cent while the foreign direct investment sector dropped 15.5 per cent to $27.24 billion.

Thuy attributed the decline in export turnover to falling prices for major export products on the global market.

Crude oil for export, for instance, totalled 12.6 million tonnes during the period, up 3.1 per cent year-on-year, but earned only $5 billion, a decrease of 41.7 per cent, due to the declining global oil price, Thuy said.

Farm produce, industrial and handicraft products suffered the same fate, with earnings from rice exports dropping 12 per cent to $2.55 billion despite an increase in export volume, and coffee, fisheries, rubber, garments, textiles and footwear decreased between 5-32 per cent.

The country's imports in the first 11 months also fell markedly to $61.6 billion, a decrease of 17.9 per cent from the same period last year which the GSO attributed to declining world prices. The domestic economic sector's imports valued at $39.1 billion, a drop of 20.4 per cent and the foreign direct investment sector only reached $22.4 billion, a reduction of 13.2 per cent.

Petrol imports, for instance, totalled $5.75 billion, a 45.3 per cent decrease. Major equipment imports totalled $10.6 billion, a decrease of 10.3 per cent.

The figures trimmed the nation's trade deficit in the first 11 months to $10.2 billion, 58.6 per cent less than the same frame last year.

Thuy added that the country's imports in the remaining months were increasing, especially in the consumer goods sector due to rising demand for the upcoming festivals and that foreign businesses were seeking opportunities to export their products to the country.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

 

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