Statistics released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that in the first two months of 2018, Vietnam-Russia trade reached US$657.7 million. Russia spent US$343.4 million purchasing Vietnamese products, including phones and spare parts, coffee, computers, electronic products, garments and aquatic products.

Photo: tapchitaichinh.vn

As compared to the same period in 2017, the strongest export growth was recorded by ceramic products (119.6%), followed by cashew nuts (95.6%) and steel (82.6%).

Meanwhile, Vietnam disbursed US$314.2 million to import commodities from Russia, including US$73.5 million for wheat and US$71 million for steel.

After the Vietnam-EAEU trade deal came into force, two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia enjoyed robust growth with a year-on-year increase of 25.4% to US$2.7 billion in 2016 and a rise of 30% to US$3.6 billion in 2017. Vietnam saw a trade surplus of US$491.7 million in 2016, US$800 million in 2017 and nearly US$30 million in January-February in 2018.

High-quality goods with competitive prices should be developed by Vietnamese exporters if they want to boost shipments to Russia to take advantage of the trade pact, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Russia. The office also advised Vietnamese exporters to seek reliable partners as importers in Russia prefer the form of deferred payments.In the coming time, the office will introduce more potential partners to Vietnamese businesses while studying more about commitments in the World Trade Organisation and other free trade agreements to give prompt forecasts about barriers that can hamper Vietnamese exports.The moves aim to elevate the bilateral trade value to US$10 billion by 2020 as set by leaders of the two countries.