HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam recorded a trade surplus of US$5.46 billion in the first half of this year, the highest six-month surplus ever recorded, data of the General Department of Customs this week showed.

Việt Nam’s import and export activities recovered strongly in June, signalling a more optimistic outlook for the country’s foreign trade in the latter half of this year, especially as many countries have started easing COVID-19 control measures and are accelerating the recovery process.

The total import-export value of the country in June reached $43.28 billion, up 15.8 per cent over May, of which export value rose 17.6 per cent month-on-month and import value leapt 14 per cent.

The results in June helped increase the total value in the first six months to $240.12 billion, down slightly 1.4 per cent year-on-year, of which export value reached $122.79 billion, up 0.2 per cent year-on-year, while import value decreased 2.9 per cent to $117.33 billion.

In June, exports of many key commodities witnessed strong growth compared to the previous month, such as computers, electronic products and components fetching $3.95 billion, up 16.2 per cent; phones and components, $3.65 billion, up 24.5 per cent; textiles and garments, $2.6 billion, up 39.4 per cent; footwear, $1.44 billion, up 9.8 per cent; and fishery, $720 million, up 12.1 per cent.

Three groups of products had import turnover of $1 billion in June, including machines, equipment and spare parts; phones and accessories; and all kinds of fabric.

Ending June, there were 22 items with an export turnover of more than $1 billion, accounting for 86.2 per cent of total export turnover.

Phones and components topped the list with $21.5 billion and computers, down 8.4 per cent. The export value of computers, electronic product and components reached $19.3 billion, up 24.2 per cent and textiles and garments $12.8 billion, down 15.5 per cent.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, exports are gradually growing and Việt Nam’s import and export activities are expected to grow more robustly in the last six months when countries open their economies and push the recovery process.

Meanwhile, exports of domestic enterprises increased 11.7 per cent over the same period last year, showing their resilience to negative external impacts. Their growth momentum is no longer dependent on agricultural and aquatic products as in the past. This trend has started in the last two years, especially being clearer in 2019, when exports of agricultural and fishery products faced difficulties.

In addition, the trade agreement between Việt Nam and the European Union (EU), set to take effect from August 2020, will open greater opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to access the world’s second-largest import market with a population of more than 508 million people and combined GDP of about $18 trillion. — VNS