Vietnam registered a trade surplus of $9.6 billion in the first 10 months of this year, government customs data released on Monday showed.

Exports in the January-October period rose 16.0% from a year earlier to $312.95 billion, while imports were up 12.2% at $303.35 billion, the Customs Department said in a report.

In October, exports rose 2.2% from September to $30.47 billion, while imports were down 1.7% to $27.90 billion. (Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Martin Petty)