The agency said exports were at US$12.9 billion, up 0.2% from the previous month while imports were valued at US$13.4 billion, down 4.5% against December last year.
In January, revenues from oil exports shrank 30% to US$290 million due to the sharp fall in global prices while mobile phones and accessories still kept up their momentum, rising by 34.6%.
The US was the largest importer of Vietnamese goods in January with values estimated at US$2.6 billion, followed by the European Union and ASEAN, whose imports from Vietnam were worth US$2.4 billion and US$1.5 billion respectively.
On the import side, the value of goods purchased abroad in January fell against the previous month but surged 35.5% compared with the same month of 2014, mainly driven by a 41.4% increase in imports of foreign-invested enterprises.
Vietnamese shipments to China fell by 2.5% to US$1.4 billion but imports from the world’s second largest economy still made up the highest proportion of its total import value, estimated at US$4.2 billion, up 47.1% year on year.
Last year, Vietnam’s exports beat expectations and reached a record high of US$150.2 billion, outpacing imports by US$2.1 billion.
