VIENTIANE, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Laos recorded a trade surplus of 1 billion U.S. dollars during 2021, and the total value of the country's imports and exports, excluding electricity exports, was 13 billion dollars.
Exports were worth about 7 billion U.S. dollars, while imports were valued at 6 billion dollars, according to the latest information from the Lao Trade Portal website.
The main exports included gold ore and gold bars, paper and paper products, wood pulp and waste paper, rubber, cassava, iron ore, bananas, garments, electrical appliances and equipment, fertilizers, camera parts, and footwear.
The main imports were vehicles, excluding motorcycles and tractors, diesel, mechanical equipment excluding motor vehicles, and precious or semi-precious stones, spare parts (including plastic, mirrors and chains), steel and steel products and magnetics, pharmaceuticals, plastic products, electrical appliances, gasoline, scrap and waste from food, camera equipment, and wood and wood products.
China topped the list of five main countries for exports with a figure of 2.2 billion dollars, and the others were Thailand's 2.1 billion dollars, Vietnam's 1.2 billion dollars, Australia's 348 million dollars, and Switzerland's 116 million dollars.
The five main importing countries were Thailand's 3 billion dollars, China's 1.2 billion dollars, Vietnam's 499 million dollars, the United States's 250 million dollars, and Japan's 148 million dollars. ■
