Cargo containers are loaded from a ship at Phuoc Long ICD Port in HCM City. Viet Nam saw a trade surplus of US$244 million in the first two months of this year. — VNA/VNS Photo Le Lam

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam gained a trade surplus of US$244 million in the first two months of this year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

During the first two months of this year, the nation saw a year-on-year increase of 12.3 per cent in total export value to reach $21.06 billion and of 17 per cent in total import value to reach $20.816 billion.

Le Thi Minh Thuy, head of the GSO's Trade Department, told Viet Nam News that the national trade surplus from the first two months was due to a trade surplus in the foreign direct investment (FDI) economic sector.

The sector achieved a trade surplus of $2.9 billion in the first two months because it had an export value of $13.85 billion and an import value of $11.75 billion.

Meanwhile, the domestic economic sector recorded a trade deficit of $1.85 billion because the sector had seen a year-on-year surge of 16.8 per cent in import value to reach $9.05 billion and of 13.2 per cent in export value to reach $7.2 billion.

Thuy said the domestic economic sector had shown a trade deficit, but the sector had signalled a recovery in the production of goods, including export staples.

Products with large export value saw further growth in the first two months of this year against the same period last year, including telephones and their components, up 22.9 per cent to $3.3 billion; textiles and garments, up 30.1 per cent to $3.21 billion; and footwear, up 27.4 per cent to $1.51 billion.

Other products also reached a year-on-year increase: 38.9 per cent to $1.34 billion for seafood products, 13.8 per cent to $149 million for vegetables and fruit, 12.6 per cent to $186 million for cashews and 8 per cent to $39 million for handicrafts.

In the first two months of 2014, the import value of domestic production saw a surge of 39.2 per cent to $3.34 billion for machines, equipment, tools and components; 36.8 per cent to $458 million for plastic products; 23.3 per cent to $438 million for chemical products; and 31.5 per cent to $1.26 billion for petrol and oil products. — VNS