Viet Nam exported US$228 billion worth of goods to Algeria this year as of early September, up 26 per cent year-on-year, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Algeria.

Among the major staples exported are coffee beans, with a turnover of $84.31 million, phones and phone parts at $58.8 million and rice at $11.53 million.

Other key export items are pepper, steel products, seafood and computers, as well as electronics and their components, machinery and other equipment and tools. Algeria is now the fourth-largest consumer of Vietnamese goods in Africa, behind South Africa, Ghana and Egypt.

Bilateral economic co-operation has room to develop, with Algerian consumers becoming increasingly familiar with Vietnamese goods, while Algerian animal feed, medicine and natural minerals are sold in Viet Nam, trade experts said.

The office said it has organised a range of trade promotion activities including business seminars and fairs in a move to celebrate the 55th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Viet Nam’s shipments to Algeria reached $271.42 million in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 37 per cent, with most of the revenue coming from coffee and rice. — VNS