Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of US$3.1 billion in the year to April 15, the latest statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs show.

The country’s exports in the four-month period topped $64.4 billion, up 22.8 percent from the same period last year, while imports stood at $61.3 billion, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

This means a total import-export turnover of $125.7 billion, a 17 percent rise year on year, and a trade surplus of $3.1 billion.

Mobile phones and components, garments-textiles, computers and electronic components, and machines and equipment remain Vietnam’s major export staples. Footwear, transport vehicles and accessories, timber and wooden products, aquatic products, coffee, and iron and steel also contributed greatly to the strong export results.

As of mid-April, foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses posted a trade surplus of $9.4 billion, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

FDI firms raked in $45.9 billion from exports, against imports of $36.5 billion. The FDI sector’s exports rose24.3 percent from the same period last year, making up 71.3 percent of Vietnam’s total export revenue.

Vietnam’s export-import turnover hit a record $400 billion in 2017, representing a fourfold increase from its first-ever $100 billion mark in 2007, the year it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The figure rose to $200 billion in 2011, and $300 billion in 2015.

Vietnam currently has 30 export groups with an annual turnover of at least $1 billion each, including textiles, leather, footwear, coal and crude oil.

Vietnam has trade relations with more than 200 countries and territories around the world, gradually moving import-export markets from Asia to Europe and America.