During the January-September period, Vietnam posted US$179.467 billion worth of export revenues, an annual increase of 15.8% and US$173.143 billion worth of import revenues, an annual increase of 11.6%.
In September alone, the country enjoyed a trade surplus of US$1.982 billion, nearly US$1.3 billion higher than the estimated figures, which helped to raise the total trade surplus in the first nine months of the year to US$6.324 billion, the record trade surplus over the past few years.
By the end of September, five groups of goods witnessed export revenues of over US$10 billion each, with phones and components posting the highest nine-month revenue at US$36.69 billion, up 16.4% over the same period in 2017.
Garments and textiles came in second with an export turnover of US$22.45 billion, while computers, electronic products and components ranked third with a total export revenue of US$21.85 billion.
Meanwhile, three groups of goods reported import revenues of over US$10 billion each including computers, electronic products and components (US$30.81 billion); machinery, equipment and components (US$24.58 billion); and phones and components (US$10.99 billion).
Vietnam saw a total trade surplus of US$2.7 billion in 2017 due to a high trade surplus in the foreign direct investment sector, according to the General Statistics Office.
