(VOV) -The Ministry of Industry and Trade has estimated Vietnam’s eight-month export earnings at nearly 85 billion USD, representing an annual increase of 14.7%.

The Ministry said export revenue hit 11.5 billion USD and imports were valued at 11.8 billion USD in August alone, rising 5.2 percent from July. Vietnam’s trade deficit reached 577 million USD, equal to 0.7% of the country’s total export turnover. At the Ministry’s online conference on Tuesday, many participants attributed the rising import surplus to a sharp decline in values of key export items, including seafood and other agricultural products.
The Ministry added that industrial production in August continued to recover and posted a growth of 4.4%, especially the production index of processing and manufacturing. The Ministry stressed the need to minimise inventory levels and stabilise market prices. Other priorities include facilitating the support industry’s development, ratcheting up administrative reform, and expanding export customer bases.