Vietnam's exports to ASEAN up 25.7%

Vietnam pocketed 17.08 billion U.S. dollars from its exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2012, an increase of 25.7 percent year-on-year, reported the Vietnam General Department of Customs on Monday. The figure, which accounted for 14.9 percent of the country's total export value in 2012, showed a strong growth thanks to increases in value of key export items, including electronic products (up 844 million U.S. dollars), mobile phones and components (up 750 million dollars), rubber (up 339 million dollars) and coffee (up 224 million dollars). Meanwhile, Vietnam spent 20.76 billion dollars to import goods from the bloc, down 1 percent year-on-year, mainly with oil and gas, motorbikes, automobiles, steel and iron. Singapore remained Vietnam's largest trading partner with 9.03 billion dollars, accounting for 23.9 percent of the country's total export value to the bloc. Thailand followed up with 8.41 billion dollars (22.2 percent), Malaysia with 7.91 billion dollars (20.9 percent) and Indonesia with 4.61 billion dollars (12.2 percent). According to the latest survey by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Vietnam ranked second as the most attractive destination for investment in the region, after Indonesia.