Vietnam records US$2.34 billion trade surplus with the UK

In the period, Vietnam’s exports to the UK were seven times higher than imports, resulting in a surplus of US$2.34 billion.

Key export products focus on the products of the country's greatest competitive advantage such as telephones and components, garment, footwear and seafood.

Telephones and components topped the list with US$1.08 billion, accounting for 40% of the country’s total exports.

Garment ranked second with nearly US$348 million, up 4.8% against the same period last year, but making up only 2.6% of the country’s total garment exports.

Footwear exports to the UK reached US$325 million, down 2.4% and accounting for only 4.2% of the country’s total footwear export value.

Three other groups of export products to the UK which obtained an export value of more than US$100 million each are seafood (US$127 million), wood and timber products (US$143 million) and electronics and components (US$113 million).

Vietnam Customs also said that exports to the UK last year surged 10.7% to US$5.4 billion, making it the eighth biggest market for Vietnamese products.

Meanwhile imports from the UK also inked 2.1% to US$739 million, ranking the 26th among exporters to the Southeast Asia.

Statistics showed that the UK was among 15 biggest trade partner of Vietnam in the 2013-2017 period.

Bilateral trade increased from US$4.27 billion in 2013 to US$6.15 billion in 2017.

Vietnam has always run a trade surplus with the European country over the last five years.

The trade surplus jumped from US$3 billion in 2014 to US$4.68 billion in 2017.