Vietnam and Australia enjoyed strong growth in two-way trade in the first half of this year at 38.45% to 8.01 billion USD for the first time, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia.

Head of the office Nguyen Phu Hoa said that in the first six months of this year, Vietnam exported 2.78 billion USD worth of goods to Australia, 691.35 million USD higher than the same period last year.

The impressive rise was driven by coffee, seafood, steel and electronic accessories, while fruit and vegetable exports increased in the double digits.

At the same time, imports from Australia in the January-June period exceeded 5.23 billion USD, up 41.5% year on year.

With high potential for trade between the two countries, Hoa held that import-export between Vietnam and Australia will continue to rise and may exceed the forecast figure of 15 billion USD in 2022, marking a new record.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Australia will continue to implement trade promotion programmes, while focusing on strengthening digitalisation, especially in the trade of agricultural products, he said.

Hoa underlined that many new Vietnamese products have shown growth potential in the Oceania market, such as frozen fruits, including jackfruits, passion fruits, durian and some spices. The office is studying the economic development programme of the new government of Australia, thus promptly promoting bilateral cooperation in areas of Vietnam's strengths, he added.

Source: Nhan Dan