HANOI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam recorded total import turnovers of over 53 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2018, witnessing a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent, and a trade surplus of 1.3 billion dollars, the General Statistics Office said on Thursday.

Specifically, domestic sector gained import turnovers of nearly 21.3 billion dollars, up 13.4 percent, and foreign-invested sector posted imports of nearly 31.8 billion dollars, up 13.7 percent.

In the January-March period, Vietnam's imports of electronic products, computers and components surged 30.2 percent to 10.3 billion dollars; phones and components rose 17.2 percent to 3.4 billion dollars; oil and petroleum products increased 37.1 percent to 2.2 billion dollars; and plastic climbed up 21.5 percent to 2.1 billion dollars.

Regarding markets, China was Vietnam's biggest import market with 14.3 billion dollars in the first quarter, up 13.7 percent, followed by South Korea with 11.9 billion dollars, the ASEAN with 7.3 billion dollars, Japan with 4.2 billion dollars, the European Union with 3 billion dollars, and the United States with 2.5 billion dollars, said the office.

In 2017, Vietnam's total imports stood at 211.1 billion dollars, and its exports reached 214 billion dollars, resulting in a trade surplus of 2.9 billion dollars, according to the latest statistics released by the office.