Exports and imports reported double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2022, signaling a good year for the foreign trade, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

VNA quoted experts as forecasting that total export-import revenue can reach a record high of US$700 billion.

Vietnam’s foreign trade rose by US$176 billion in Q1, a year-on-year increase of 14.4 percent, according to Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy General Director of the Agency of Foreign Trade. Exports alone expanded by 12.9 percent during the period.

"The country enjoyed relatively high growth in agricultural product shipments, at 18 – 19 percent," he noted, adding that some key exports such as coffee, rice and aquatic products saw even higher growth of up to 50 percent.

Hai attributed the surges to great benefits brought by new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs), particularly the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), UK-Vietnam FTA (UKVFTA), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).