Workers at a wood working company in Bình Dương. — Photo sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY — Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Bình Dương’s exports in the first eight months of the year increased by 37.3 per cent year-on-year to US$23 billion, according to its People’s Committee.

A number of key export products saw big rises. Machinery and equipment shipments increased by 54.3 per cent, furniture by 44.2 per cent, footwear by 22.3 per cent, and textiles by 22.1 per cent.

The enormous growth was despite a 12.3 per cent fall month-on-month in August as the pandemic flared up, but the previous months made up for it, the province said.

Imports cost $18.3 billion, giving the province a year-to-date trade surplus of over $4.5 billion.

Retail sales of goods and services fell by a substantial 19.2 per cent in August to VNĐ17.5 trillion ($766.2 million), but thanks to high growth in previous months, they were up 2.8 per cent for the year at VNĐ166.97 trillion ($7.3 billion).

The consumer price index in the first eight months gained 3.1 per cent, with certain products in the basket such as transportation (8.4 per cent up), foodstuffs (4.5 per cent), restaurant and eatery services (4.3 per cent) seeing big rises.

The province People’s Committee said the pandemic continued to affect people's lives and businesses.

Enterprises faced difficulties in sourcing inputs, labour and capital due to the social distancing, it said.

With the supply chain somewhat disrupted and transportation costs increasing, production and export of goods were affected.

Currently the province is loosening social distancing in "green zones" to enable businesses to resume operations.

However, with the pandemic still raging, businesses needed to proactively adapt to the new situation, sustaining supply chains and safeguarding workers’ jobs and earnings after the pandemic is over to fully restore production, the province said.

The province, which has the country’s second biggest COVID case load, has had 141,765 infections as of September 8. — VNS