Goods are exported to China via the Lao Cai international border gate. Viet Nam earned a surplus of US$800 million in trade with China in the first six months of the year. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam's cross-border trade with China in the first half of the year grew at a monthly average of 4 per cent.

The growth rate was maintained despite tensions in the East Sea due to China's illegal placement of an oil rig in Viet Nam's continental shelf and exclusive economic zone between May and July. This was announced at a meeting of the Border Trade Steering Board of the Viet Nam-China border region in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

According to the board, Viet Nam earned a surplus of US$800 million in trade with China in the first six months of the year, up 126 per cent year over year. Viet Nam's total trade value with China in H1 reached $2.61 billion, up 13 per cent.

During the period, rice was the largest export earner with a shipment of 529,000 tonnes, worth $198 million. It was followed by lychee and watermelon with 96,385 tonnes and 152,628 tonnes, worth $62.2 million and $9.1 million, respectively.

Vice chairman of the Lang Son People's Committee, Nguyen Van Binh, said that the value of the province's products exported through its borders reached $821 million, while the imports were worth $806 million.

Binh said that trade across the province's borders has remained stable, with strict supervision of food hygiene and quarantine of animals.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu also affirmed that cross-border trade with China has grown despite some problems. However, he urged the concerned ministries to streamline policies on border trade and border residence as the lack of detailed regulations has hindered border trade management, especially export and import through auxiliary border gates and crossings outside the border-gate economic zones.

The revised policies would help tackle tax fraud and ensure smoother border trade, Tu said.

The Border Trade Standing Board also plans to organise inter-sector delegations to work with Chinese counterparts in the provinces which share the border with Viet Nam to deal with obstacles in bilateral trade in a timely manner. This is being done to boost border trade in the second half of the year, besides setting up a regular information exchange channel between the concerned agencies.

Apart from exchanging information on markets and border-trade policies with China, trade promotion in the Vietnamese and Chinese border areas will also be planned. — VNS