Vietnam's exports in April are estimated to have risen 10.6% from a year earlier to $30.94 billion, led by shipments of electronics, while industrial output in the month rose an annual 6.3%, government data showed on Monday.

The Southeast Asian country, a regional manufacturing hub, relies heavily on exports for its economic growth.

Imports in April are estimated to have risen 19.9% to $30.26 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $680 million for the month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in a report.

For the January-April period, exports rose 15% from a year earlier to $123.64 billion, while imports were up 15.4% to $115.24 billion, the GSO said. This translated into a trade surplus of $8.4 billion for the four months.

Consumer prices in April rose 4.4% from a year earlier, the GSO said, and retail sales increased an annual 9.0%.

Shipments of electronics in April rose 32.6% from a year earlier to $5.3 billion, according to the GSO. Smartphone exports in the month rose 9.1% to $4.2 billion.

Oxford Economics said on Monday it expected an export demand boost in the second half of the year, but added that "this is likely to be constrained given interest rates in Vietnam's largest importer, the U.S., are likely to stay higher for longer and the overall weak external outlook."

Vietnam will miss its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target this year, with a growth forecast of 5.6%, Oxford Economics said citing subdued external environment and challenges from real estate sector.

Vietnam is targeting GDP growth of 6.0% to 6.5% this year, faster than its expansion of 5.05% last year.

Last week, the World Bank forecast Vietnam's GDP growth for this year at 5.5%, while Standard Chartered cut its forecast to 6.0% from 6.7% on lower-than-expected growth in the first quarter and global trade headwinds. (Reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Martin Petty, John Mair and Mrigank Dhaniwala)