Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s exports to theUK in the first half of 2018 were seven times higher than imports, resulting ina surplus of 2.34 billion USD, according to the General Department of VietnamCustoms.

Two-way trade reached 3.12 billion USD in theperiod, showing a year-on-year rise of 14.2 percent. Of which, 2.73 billion USDcame from Vietnam’s exports, up 14 percent.

Key export products include telephones and components,garment-textile, footwear, and seafood.

Telephones and components topped the list with1.08 billion USD, accounting for up to 40 percent of the country’s totalexports.

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

Footwear exports to the UK reached 325 millionUSD, down 2.4 percent and accounting for a mere 4.2 percent of the country’stotal footwear export value.

Three other exports to the UK which obtained anexport value of more than 100 million USD each were seafood (127 million USD),wood and timber products (143 million USD), and electronics and components (113million USD).

In 2017, Vietnam’s shipments to the UK surged10.7 percent to 5.4 billion USD, making the UK the eighth biggest importer ofVietnamese products, moving up one place compared to 2016.

Meanwhile, the country imported 739 million USDworth of goods from the UK, a slight increase of 2.1 percent.

Statistics showed that the UK was among the 15biggest trade partners of Vietnam in the 2013-2017 period with bilateral tradeincreasing to 6.15 billion USD in 2017 from 4.27 billion USD in 2013.

Notably, Vietnam always ran a trade surplus withthe European country in the period. Specifically, Vietnam exported 3.7 billionUSD worth of goods to the UK in 2013, six times higher than imports. In 2014,Vietnam posted a trade surplus of 3 billion USD with the UK, which increased inthe following years and hit 4.68 billion USD in 2017.-VNA