Last year, Vietnam shipped China more than 24 million tons of coal, valued at US$605 million and over 454,000 tons of rubber worth US$830 million, while the country exported a total of nearly 30 million tons of coal, valued at US$927 million and 697,000 tons of rubber worth roughly US$1.3 billion.
The two items made up some 50 per cent of Vietnam’s total export value to China, the department said, crude oil follows with a volume close to 1 million tons, valued at more than $400 million.
China is the third biggest importer of Vietnamese goods after the US and Japan, while the country is the biggest exporter to Vietnam. Two-way trade between the countries hit $10.6 billion in 2006, of which, Vietnam exported $3.4 billion to and imported $7.2 billion from China.
Vietnam mainly exports coal, rubber, crude oil, cigarette, seafood, cashew nut, coffee, fruits and vegetables, and starch to China, and imports petroleum products, fertilizer, steel and steel ingot, chemicals, machinery and equipments, and raw materials for many industries.