Vietnam exported 5.77 billion USD worth of goods to the US in the first six month of this year, up 1.6 percent from last year’s first half, statistics recently released by the US Department of Commerce said.
The top exports categories for the first half of this year included apparel, grossing 2.39 billion USD, up 2.3 percent over the same period last year; footwear, 720,000 USD, up 20 percent and furniture and bedding, 645,000 USD.
Six-month exports valued at around 300,000 USD each included agricultural products, machinery, seafood, mineral fuel and crude oil.
US imports from Vietnam totalled 1.3 billion USD in the January-June period, decreasing 15.5 percent from the corresponding period last year.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and the US in the first half of this year was valued at more than seven billion USD, representing a 2 percent year-to-year decrease.
Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor in the US Ngo Van Thoan attributed Vietnam ’s 26 th ranking in import value in the US and its sixth-month rise in this field to tremendous efforts by Vietnamese businesses.
He said the decreased value of most of Vietnam ’s exports was due to price decreases from previous years.
The Counselor forecast that due to the slow recovery of the US consumer market and the US application of technical barriers to some of Vietnam's key exports, the country's export value in 2009 would stand at last year's figure of 12.6 billion USD or might increase prettily to 13 billion USD with exports of apparel to be valued at 5.5 billion USD; footwear and furniture and bedding at 1.4 billion USD each; and agricultural products; sea food; mineral fuel and crude oil at 700,000 USD each./.