Vietnam's export earnings to surge in 2006-2007

Vietnam is forecast to make export revenues of 39.6 billion U.S. dollars this year and some 46.8 billion dollars next year, up from 32.2 billion dollars last year, a local trade agency said Friday.

Nine local items with this year's export turnovers surpassing the 1-billion dollar mark include crude oil (over 8.3 billion dollars), garment and textile (5.8 billion dollars), footwear ( nearly 3.6 billion dollars), seafood (nearly 3.4 billion dollars), woodwork (1.9 billion dollars), electronics (roughly 1.8 billion dollars), rice (1.3 billion dollars), rubber (nearly 1.3 billion dollars), and coffee (1.1 billion dollars), said the Import-Export Department under the Trade Ministry.

The United States remains Vietnam's biggest export market since it is estimated to spend 8 billion dollars importing Vietnamese goods this year, followed by the European Union with 6.8 billion dollars, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with nearly 6.6 billion dollars, Japan with 5.2 billion dollars, and China with 3.2 billion dollars.

In 2006, Vietnam is expected to post import revenues of over 44. 4 billion dollars, said the department.

Source: Xinhua