Latest reports from the Department of Trade show that Hanoi reaped US $414 million from exports in March 2008, while the figures of the Q1 reached $1.226 billion, registering a 24.9 percent growth year–on–year.
Most of the products exported from Hanoi saw a slight growth in the Q1. This included agriculture products up 5.6 percent and textile and garment saw a boost of 17.4 percent. At the same time the region enjoyed a rise of 3.1 percent in the exports of handicraft articles.
On the other hand, Hanoi's expenditure for imports of materials like machines and equipment reached up to $4.368 billion. This shows a rise 33.3 percent over similar period of 2007, and recorded a rise as high as 3.5 times over export turnover.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - Vietnam