Goods are loaded for export at Vũng Áng Port. Việt Nam enjoyed a trade surplus of $200 million in July. — VNA/VNS Photo Hà Thái

HÀ NỘI (Biz Hub)— The trade balance returned to a surplus for the month of July, reaching US$200 million, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in its recent report.

The improvement in the surplus helped narrow the total trade deficit in the January-July period to $733 million, equal to 1 per cent of the country's total export value, said Pham Thi Quỳnh Lợi, Deputy Director of GSO's Trade and Service Statistics Department.

In the first seven months of this year, the country is estimated to reap a total of $72.74 billion from exports, increasing 14.3 per cent year-on-year while it imported $73.47 billion worth of goods, increasing 15 per cent from the same period in 2012, the data showed.

Of note, foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises still remained a driving force for the import-export activities as the sector recorded a trade surplus of nearly $7 billion since the beginning of this year, with exports and imports surging 22 per cent and 24 per cent respectively against the same period last year to reach $48.24 billion and $41.33 billion.

In contrast, the domestic sector shipped $24.5 billion worth of goods in the period, up 1.6 per cent year-on-year, and it contributed $32.14 billion of the country's total import value, up 5.2 per cent against 2012's same period, posting a $7.64 billion trade deficit.

Việt Nam's export staples in the seven-month period were mobile phones and spare-parts ($11.63 billion) – up 87 per cent; garments and textiles ($9.64 billion) – up 16.3 per cent; electronic products, computers and components ($5.69 billion) – up 40.4 per cent and footwear ($4.79 billion) – up 15.6 per cent.

Most commodities recording high growth were in the FDI sector or companies in which FDI enterprises held a large amount of capital.

The country's key imported products in the period were machinery, equipment, facilities and spare-parts ($10 billion); electronic products, computers and components ($10 billion); petroleum ($4 billion); raw material for textile and leather ($3.96 billion).

Declines or slight increases were seen in some imported goods for domestic production included fertilisers, medicines, rubber, wood and wood products. — VNS