HO CHI MINH City, March 30 — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the biggest importer of Vietnamese phones and phone accessories, with growth of over 100 percent year-on-year since 2010, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnamese cellphones to the UAE reached export turnover of US$71 million in 2010, then jumped to US$364 million in 2011, US$1.5 billion in 2012 and more than US$3 billion last year.
In a report released on Friday, the General Department of Vietnam Customs’ online news site, www.baohaiquan.vn, quoted a department figure as saying that the UAE had paid nearly US$520 million to import Vietnamese phones in the first two months of this year.
The figure represented over 81 percent of total UAE import turnover from Vietnam.
Also, according to the report, the export value to the UAE accounted for more than 15 percent of total Vietnamese phone export turnover in the first two months of the year, when Vietnam earned nearly US$3.4 billion from phone exports.
The other major importers of Vietnamese phones in the first two months were the US with a turnover of over US$284 million, Germany US$184 million, the UK over US$182 million, Hong Kong nearly US$140 million, Russia US$140 million, and Italy US$120 million.
Last year, the UAE was the biggest importer of Vietnamese phones. Import value was US$3.2 billion, accounting for 16 percent of Vietnamese phone and accessory export turnover, and representing 83 percent of the UAE’s total import value from Vietnam.
The other main products that the UAE imports from Vietnam are computers, rice, garments and textiles. These imports have grown quickly, with growth in recent years of more than 100 per cent year-on-year for each product.
— BERNAMA
