According to the figures on record, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce shows that imports and exports of Lao PDR in the period of the first 6 months show a rapidly growing trend of which the main export commodity is natural resources such as: mining, wood and wood products. Besides that, there is also electric power, garments and agricultural products that have contributed to the growth of trade value for Lao PDR. The most imported commodities are petrol, vehicles and spare part, industrial tools, construction tool and consumer products.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce stated that from January to June 2013, the import and export of commodities in Lao PDR reached 4.527 million USD, an increase of 5.36% compared to the same period of the previous year at 4.279 million USD. With exports reaching 1.540 million USD, an increase of 4.14% and the value of imports 2.998 million, an increase of 8% , resulted in a trade deficit increase of 8.06%, from -1.340m USD to -1.446m USD.
The main export was mining covering 47.86% of the total exports, an increase of 8.15% (while the export of gold increases by 1.62% covering 47.87%) and the export of electric power increased 3.36% covering 16.41%. Industrial products also increased covering 7.17% (while the export of garments increased by 9.38% covering 58.47%), the wood and wood products category covered 23.36% and agricultural product 5.3%, a decrease from 5.98% and 11.39% respectively.
Thailand is the main export partner of Laos with a trade value at 619 million USD, covering 40.95% of the total export value. After that are China with a trade value covering 27.53% and Vietnam with a trade value of 261 million USD covering 1727%. Furthermore, there are Japan with a trade value of 60 million USD and India with 40 million USD.
The main import commodities are petrol and gas covering 19.74% of total imports which have increased marginally by 1.66% compared to the same figure the previous year and vehicles and spare parts covering 18.7% that have increased by 15.35%. Additionally, there are also industrial equipment covering 14.82%, construction tools 13.91%, food 6.43% and electronic instruments 5.39%.
The main trade partners of Laos are mostly the countries with shared borders with the import figures for Thailand at 1.923 million USD covering 67.22% of the total imports, followed by China with a trade value of 534 million USD covering 18.67% and Vietnam with 243 million USD covering 8.49%. In addition, there are imports from other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan with a trade value of 96 million USD and 64 million USD respectively.
Information Source: Economy-Trade Newspaper issued on 2nd September, 2013.
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