Vietnam-Japan trade reaches over US$20 billion in first half
Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Japan during the opening six months of the year hit more than US$20 billion, according to the latest figures released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
Vietnamese exports brought in US$11.38 billion, representing a year-on-year rise of 13%, said the department..
The export items are quite diverse, ranging from agricultural products to processing and manufacturing items.
The items that raked in US$1 billion include garments and textiles at roughly US$1.67 billion, machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts with US$1.364 billion, along with means of transport and spare parts with US$1.2 billion.
Other items earning high export turnover are seafood with US$800 million, computers, electronic products and components with US$603.7 million, phones and components with US$538.7 million, footwear with US$495.8 million, and plastic products with US$386 million.
Meanwhile, six-month imports from Japan surged by 10.6% to US$12 billion year-on-year. Key import items are computers, electronic products and components valued at US$3.5 billion, machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts at US$2.14 billion and iron and steel at over US$1 billion.
As a result, Vietnam skipped into a trade deficit of just US$620 million with Japan in the six-month period.
Last year, bilateral trade between the two sides reached approximately US$43 billion, of which exports stood at US$20.13 billion and imports at US$22.8 billion.
Currently, the scale of import-export turnover between Vietnam and Japan ranks fourth, behind China, the United States, and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
