The trade deficit accounts for 0.7 per cent of the export turnover, the office said.
GSO said the country’s total import-export turnover in January decreased by 13% from last December, despite an increase against the same period last year.
Of this amount, total export turnover reached $14.6 billion, reducing 12% compared to the previous month, while total import turnover was $14.7 billion, or a decrease of 14% month-on-month.
Several main export products recorded decreasing turnover compared with December 2016. The export turnover of phones and spare parts reached $2.5 billion, reducing by 7.1%, while that of garment and textile reduced by 10.8% to $2.05 billion.
 

Illustrative image

The turnover of computers, electronics and spare parts was $1.6 billion, or a 14% decrease, while that of shoes was $1.2 billion, reducing 10.2% from the previous month.
A similar downward trend was seen in the import of key goods. The import turnover of many key products also saw a strong decrease, such as machines, equipment and spare parts reduced by 15.3% to $2.6 billion; computers, electronics and spare parts to $2.25 billion (10.3% decrease), petroleum to $510 million (23.6% decrease); phones and spare parts to $850 million (15% decrease); and steel to $710 million (7.9% decrease).
According to GSO experts, Vietnam’s largest importers in January were the United States, with the total turnover of $3.3 billion, posting a 9.5% increase year-on-year, and the European Union with $2.9 billion or a 4.8% rise.
In January, China remained the country’s largest exporter with the turnover of $4.3 billion, increasing 9.3% from the same period in 2016. It was followed by South Korea with $2.5 billion (19.3% rise) and ASEAN with $2.1 billion (15% increase).
Notably, the FDI sector recorded the trade surplus of $1.8 billion in the first month of this year, contributing to reduce the country’s total trade deficit.
The sector posted an export turnover of $10.2 billion, rising by 9.7% from the same period last year, while that of local firms was $4.3 billion, or a 2.8% increase year-on-year.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is implementing a programme on sustainable exports, which puts forth measures to restructure the market and promoe product competitiveness to help businesses avoid trade barriers. The programme also highlights product quality improvement, trade promotion and market expansion.
Besides, the programme would focus on developing production to increase exports while ensuring the local demand towards a trade balance.
In 2016, Vietnam gained the trade surplus of $2.68 billion. Total trade value in the previous year was $349.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%.
Telephones and their components reported the highest export value at $34.51 billion, followed by $23.56 billion from textile and garment exports.