国际英语新闻:Vietnam's exports in riot-hit first half of May decrease sharply

HANOI, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's exports have seen a sharp decrease by 29.9 percent in the riot-hit first half of May against the previous period, according to newly-released statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

The statistics released on the Vietnam Customs e-portal on Friday show that in the first half of May, Vietnam's exports stood at 5.1 billion U.S. dollars, down by 29.9 percent in value against the previous period in the second half of April, with cumulative exports of 51.59 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, imports amounted to 6.1 billion U.S. dollars, up by 2.3 percent compared with the previous period, with cumulative imports reaching 50.66 billion U.S. dollars.

Generally, Vietnam's total exports and imports shrank by 15.4 percent in the first half of May by link relative ratio.

In the first half of May, Vietnam's foreign trade posted 1 billion U.S. dollars of deficit, with its cumulative surplus in 2014 cut by over half to 0.93 billion dollars.

Foreign companies contribute 6.68 billion U.S. dollars to Vietnam's exports and imports, down by 15.2 percent compared to the second half of April.

According to Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment, Foreign direct investment ( FDI) flown into Vietnam has turned flat in the first five months of 2014, while newly registered FDI shrunk by one third compared to the same period last year.

A total of 4.6 billion U.S. dollars is expected to be disbursed for FDI projects in Vietnam in the first five months of 2014, up 0. 4 percent year-on-year.

During the five-month period, some 5.509 billion U.S. dollars are freshly registered and added to existing projects in Vietnam, down 34.3 percent year-on-year.

A series of riots hit foreign companies in southern and central Vietnam in May, leaving five Chinese nationals dead, around 20 foreign factories burned down and some 1,100 foreign companies affected.