Vietnam-China Trade Hits US$16.6 Bln in Jan-October
Two-way trade between Vietnam and China reached US$16.6 billion in the first ten months of this year, exceeding the full year of 2007 at US$15.8 billion, said Wang Chao, Assistant Minister of Chinese Ministry of Commerce at the China Engineering and Technology Expo held in Hanoi Dec 11 without giving comparative figures.
With this growing trend, bilateral trade is likely to early realize the two countries’ target of US$25 billion in 2010, he added.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in China, Vietnam reportedly spent up to US$12.87 billion on importing commodities from its neighboring country during Jan-Oct, up 42.3 per cent on-year.
Among import staples, machines topped the list with over US$3.5 billion, followed by steel and iron with US$2.7 billion and garments and textiles with US$2 billion, said the office.
Chinese goods have become more and more popular in Vietnamese markets for years but several of them including plastics, clothes, footwear and construction brick have been flooding local markets in recent months, said local traders.
According to domestic economists, this is only a startup of Chinese goods’ influx in Vietnam amid the global economic crisis.
China is among the top trade partners with Vietnam. China buys up to 15 per cent of Vietnam’s exports, behind the U.S. with 20 per cent and the EU with 25 per cent. Bilateral trade is expected to hit US$21 billion this year and jump to US$25 billion by 2010, Vietnamese state media said. (
www.vnbusinessnews.com Dec 11, Youth Dec 2 p13)
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