Vietnam started to import coal from China in 2014. The General Department of Vietnam Customs said Vietnam imported more than 356,000 tonnes of coal from China with a total turnover of over US$92.5 million in the first nine months of 2014. This is unusual, as Vietnam has exported a large volume of coal to China every year.
In the first nine months, Vietnam spent US$31.27 billion on imports from China, an increase of US$4.35 billion from the same period of 2013. Seven groups of products exceeded US$1 billion of import expenditure: Machinery, equipment, spare parts and tools (nearly US$5.7 billion), telephones and accessories (nearly US$4.5 billion), fabric (nearly US$3.4 billion), computers, electronic products and accessories (US$3.28 billion), iron and steel (nearly US$2.5 billion), gasoline (nearly US$1.16 billion); materials for textile, leather and footwear production (nearly US$1.14 billion).
SOURCE: VCCI