Viet Nam logged a trade surplus in the Jan-Oct period despite a massive deficit in the domestic sector thanks to strong exports by foreign-invested businesses, data released Monday by the trade ministry showed.

Total exports by the domestic sector in the ten-month period topped US$40.6 billion, a 12.9 percent annual increase, while imports jumped 12 percent year on year to $52.5 billion, according to a report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Employees of shoemaker Dong Hung Co. work at the company's plant in Binh Duong Province, located in southern Viet Nam.

In the meantime, foreign-invested enterprises posted an export turnover of $82.5 billion, up 13.6 percent from the same period last year, while imports rose 10.7 percent to $68.7 billion.

The domestic sector thus suffered an $11.9 billion trade deficit, but the economy as a whole enjoyed a $1.9 billion trade surplus due to the $13.8 billion surplus in the foreign sector.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai acknowledged the contribution of the foreign sector to the trade surplus at a press meeting on Monday, adding, however, that the sector’s exports were on a downward trend.

While the foreign sector reported 30 percent growth in exports last year, the pace slowed significantly during the ten-month period in 2014, Hai said.

Viet Nam’s exports are driven by mobile phones and spare parts, but shipments of these commodities have also been slowing down, he noted.