Meanwhile, imports fell by 2.9% to US$139.3 billion, meaning Vietnam posted a trade surplus of US$6.5 billion during the period.

Domestic companies’ exports recorded strong growth at 13.5% to reach US$50.8 billion while exports by foreign-invested firms declined by 5.7% to US$95 billion, including oil revenue.

Imports by domestic companies rose 1.5% while those in the foreign sector fell 6.2%.

The January-July period saw 23 categories of exports earning US$1 billion each, whose combined revenues accounted for 87% of Vietnam’s total exports.

The world’s two largest economies, the United Stated and China, remained the biggest buyers of Vietnamese goods at US$37.9 billion and US$23.5 billion, respectively. Such figures represent respective increases of 15% and 18.4%.

In the meantime, declines in exports were recorded in most other major markets.

Shipments to the EU reached US$19.5 billion, down 5.9%, while exports to ASEAN fell by a sharp 15.4% to US$12.8 billion.

Revenue from exports to Japan and the Republic of Korea also dropped by 5% and 0.4% respectively.

On the other side, China was the largest source of Vietnamese imports, estimated at US$41.6 billion, down 1.8%. Imports from the Republic of Korea and ASEAN, the second and third largest markets, fell by 9.2% and 11.3%, respectively.

However, purchases from Japan, the United States and the EU rose by 5.1%, 2.5% and 6%, respectively.