Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s total export turnover in the first seven months of the year was 96.83ꦑ billion USD, representing an annual increase of 5.3 percent, said Duong Duy Hung, 𝕴Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Planning Department.

However, the growth of total export turnover in this period was much lower than that of 9.2 percent in the same period last year, meeting only half the target. Hung told a meeting in Hanoi on August 8 that the total export turnover in July was 14.7 billion USD, 0.2 percent less than the previous month. July exports by the agro-forestry and fishery sector rose only 0.1 percent from June. In addition, the processing industry has not maintained its high growth rate of previous years, with a turnover drop of 0.9 percent compared to June. “The declining export prices have been the main reason for the decrease of the manufacturing sector,” he said. The country’s import turnover last month was also 1 percent lower than June’s. In the January-June period, the total import turnover reached 95.03 billion USD, posting a 0.9 percent year-on-year decrease. Vietnam saw a trade surplus of 1.8 billion USD in the first seven months of 2016, equal to 1.9 percent of the total export turnover. Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong said the country would be hard pressed to meet the targeted export growth rate of 10 percent for the whole year barring breakthrough solutions. Vuong asked the industry and trade sector to focus on providing solutions to ease difficulties for business, thus promoting exports. “The industry and trade sector has contributed 60 percent of GDP for the country. The sector should make great efforts in the year-end months,” he added. Minister Tran Tuan Anh also asked departments to review regulations relating to export procedures to facilitate exports. He urged relevant agencies to enhance trade promotion in order to find new markets.-VNA