Trade Gap Declines in Early 2012

Vietnam witnessed sharp drops in exports, imports and trade deficit in January, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

 

GSO announced that January’s export revenues are estimated at about US $6.5 billion, posting a 28.5 drop from the previous month. The figure for imports stood at US $6.6 billion. The trade deficit decreased from US $270 million in December 2011 to about US $100 million in January.

 

These sharp declines were found mainly in Vietnam’s major export sectors such as garments and textiles, seafood, electronics, computers and spare parts, rubber, timber and wooden furniture.

 

As this year’s Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday is prolonged, the time for customs clearances was actually only 15 days, a much period shorter than in previous months, which resulted in a sharp drop in trade revenues, said a GSO official.

 

Meanwhile, imports that recorded a drop in revenues included transport, spare parts, and animal and plant oils.