Meanwhile, import value during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, the biggest festival in the year of Vietnamese, was US$604 million, a year-on-year rise of 45.7%.
According to the General Department of Customs, the export-import activities were handled at 108 customs departments, with nearly 5,100 declaration forms registered.
The agency said that only a nine-seat auto worth US$16,500 was imported from Australia in the week.
Vietnam’s export turnover in January 2018 stood at US$19 billion, a decrease of 3.3% against December 2017 but up 33.1% compared with the same period last year.
China was Vietnam’s largest export market with a turnover of US$4.5 billion, a 2.5-fold rise from the corresponding time last year, followed by the United States, the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Meanwhile, Vietnam imported US$19.3 billion worth of goods in January, down 3% against December 2017 but up 47.4% year-on-year.
The numbers reflect a trade deficit of US$300 million in January. The General Statistics Office explained that businesses are importing more goods to serve production and consumption during the upcoming Tet holiday.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country’s exports are set to face a range of difficulties in 2018 such as global economic uncertainties, impacts of sudden changes in economic and trade policies of major economies like the US and the EU, impacts of geo-political tensions on the global financial sector and increasing supply resources.