Exports see light decrease in April

April 28, 2011 | 14:02

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The country’s exports earned $7.3 billion in April, down by $150 million from the previous month, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

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However, the total export turnover in the first four months of this year reached $26.94 billion, up 35.7 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Among exported staples, coffee, rubber and cassava, saw a more-than-double increase; fruit and vegetables, pepper, iron and steel registered a 1.5-fold rise and many exported goods hit double digits.

Meanwhile, tea, coal and precious metals products experienced a contraction in value over the corresponding period last year, and cashew nuts, tea, pepper and coal plummeted in volume.

The ministry said price increases helped raise the export turnover by over $2 billion.

The nation’s import value reached $8.7 billion in April, down slightly from March’s figure, bringing the total import turnover in the first four months of the year to $31.83 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29.1 per cent.

According to the MoIT, cotton imports saw double rise in value, the import value of wheat, petrol, weaving, and automobiles also increased half as much against that of corresponding period last year; while the imports of fruit and vegetables, animal feeds, transportation means dropped compared with 2010.

As a result, the country’s trade deficit for the January-April period was estimated at nearly $4.9 billion, up 6 per cent in comparison with the same period last year.

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