HANOI, March 16 (PNA/Xinhua) -- Vietnam earned over one billion U.S. dollars from goods export to the United States in the first month of this year, up 27.23 percent year-on- year, said the information center of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade on Tuesday.

The country's export value to the United States made up 20 percent of the country's total export value in January, said the center.

The increase in export value was seen in a majority of Vietnamese products, especially garment, wood products, footwear and rubber products.
Vietnamese garment, a key export item to the United States, experienced a year-on-year increase of 19 percent to over 468 million U.S. dollars. The figure represented 57.8 percent of the country's total garment export turnover and occupied 46.5 percent of the country's total export turnover to this market in January.

Export turnover of wood products went up 64 percent year-on-year to 114 million U.S. dollars.

However, four other products of Vietnam namely crude oil, plastic products, pottery products and chemical products saw a year-on-year decline in export turnover to the United States, said the center.

To boost more exports to this market, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said local companies and exporters should be fully aware of internationally-standardized trade conducts. It is to help the country's exporters to avoid possible anti-dumping lawsuits filed by foreign importers, especially the United States and European Union.

In 2009, Vietnam raked in 11.2 billion U.S. dollars from exports to the United States, down 5.5 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.