HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam ranked as the eighth largest export market of Singapore with an export turnover of more than 11.7 billion SGD (US$9.06 billion) in the first five months of this year, four places higher than that of the same period last year, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The ministry cited data from Enterprise Singapore, which said that last month, total import-export turnover between the two countries reached more than 3.16 billion SGD, up 27.76 per cent year-over-year. Exports from Việt Nam to Singapore continued to grow well with a turnover of 869.3 million SGD, up 27.1 per cent, while import turnover grew by 28.02 per cent, reaching nearly 2.3 billion SGD.

In the first five months of the year, the two-way trade turnover reached more than 16.23 billion SGD, 28.07 per cent higher than that of the same period last year. Of that, Việt Nam's exports to Singapore increased sharply, by 37.7 per cent, reaching nearly 4.53 billion SGD and its imports reached more than 11.7 billion SGD, up 24.7 per cent.

More than 94.4 per cent of the commodities that Việt Nam exported to Singapore last month belonged to the group of machinery, equipment, mobile phones, components and spare parts of all kinds. Meanwhile, the other two main export groups - the group of reactors, boilers, machine tools and spare parts of the above machines; and the group of glass and glass products - only increased slightly or decreased.

Some other export groups also had very strong growth such as alcohol and beverages (up 104.48 per cent); optical machines, measuring instruments, medical equipment, watches, musical instruments and accessories of all kinds (up more than 52.58 per cent); and plastics and plastic products (up more than 48.43 per cent). On the contrary, some groups had quite strong declines, such as salt, sulfur, soil and stone, plaster, lime and cement (down 25.29 per cent) and aquatic products (down 17.85 per cent).

Regarding imported goods from Singapore to Việt Nam, in May, the group of machinery, equipment, mobile phones, components and spare parts of all kinds increased by 61.28 per cent and the group of reactors, boilers, machine tools and equipment and spare parts of the above machines increased by 92.44 per cent. Meanwhile, the group of gasoline and petroleum products decreased by 12.28 per cent. — VNS