Trade deficit reached around US $690 million in the first half of 2010, bringing the total figure to US $6.99 billion since the beginning of the year, said the Vietnam Customs.
According to the Vietnam Customs, the US $6.99 billion trade deficit accounted for 19.8% of export turnover.
By July 15, Vietnam imported US $42.2 billion of commodities, up 28.5% against the same period in 2009.
In the first half of July, the total trade revenue widened to US $6.13 billion, of which the export revenue was US $2.72 billion down 17.7% against last month and the import US $3.41 billion, down 3.8%.
During the reviewed period, rice and textiles helped Vietnam pocket US $31 million and US $23.4 million respectively.
Between January 1 and July 15, the export turnover was US $35.21 billion, up 18.2% against the same period last year./.